


Yin and Yang

by Yacer_Sho



Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: Alien/Human Relationships, Aliens Made Them Do It, Angst and Tragedy, Bittersweet Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Emergency Meeting, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Forbidden Love, Imposters, Kissing, M/M, Murder Mystery, Mutual Pining, Nonbinary Character, Outer Space, Parasites, Pets are Children, Suspicions, The Skeld (Among Us), tasks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 15:49:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 31,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26540146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yacer_Sho/pseuds/Yacer_Sho
Summary: Twelve crewmates aboard the The Skeld are faced with the harsh reality that there are two imposters hiding among them, but they have no idea who they are. With everyone on edge, Black and White stick together despite Black being a crewmate, and White being an imposter. With crewmates getting murdered and voted off left and right, only time will tell if they manage to protect one another until the end.
Relationships: Black/White, Black/White (Among Us), Crewmate/Crewmate (Among Us), Crewmate/Impostor (Among Us), Cyan/Purple (Among Us), Lime/Orange (Among Us), Pink/Yellow (Among Us)
Comments: 43
Kudos: 163





	1. 12 Crewmates Remain

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I'll admit it; I love my purple flamingo-wearing astronaut so much that I'm going incorporate separate hats for everyone single crewmate. With that being said, here are the hats to distinguish the crewmates if necessary, or if someone makes fan-art of my story!  
> Black(male): Horns  
> White(non-binary): Angel Halo  
> Brown(male): Ten Gallon Sheriff Hat  
> Orange(female): Plant Hat  
> Yellow(male): (Blue) Hat  
> Blue(non-binary): Top Hat  
> Cyan(female): Bear Ears Hat/Has a Mini Astronaut (Child)  
> Pink(female): Goggles  
> Green(male): Crown  
> Lime(female): Party Hat  
> Purple(female): Flamingo Hat/Has a Mini Astronaut (Child)  
> Red(male): Egg Hat
> 
> Yellow is the captain and is named Captain Joe, and Pink is Commander Lee, but they're the only ones with names since they run the mission.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Local 3'6 ft and 92 lb blobs try to complete tasks on a floating death trap. Also Yellow is a simp for Pink. What else is new.

SHHHHHHH!

A blaring message appears on the giant flat screen monitor above everyone's heads the very second they stepped foot into The Skeld, and from there, their hearts begin to sink as soon as they realize that someone, or _something_ , stowed away with the other crewmates with evil intent. 

Beneath her mirrored helmet, Lime's face was a mixture of confusion and terror, and a tear found its way down her amber skin as she looked around at all her crewmates. She twiddled her fingers together and stared at the monitor, then back at her fellow crewmates as she began to hyperventilate. "What... What is this?"

Orange tried to calm her down, especially since they needed to save their oxygen levels once they managed to break the atmosphere, but the party-hat wearing girl wouldn't accept her touch; especially if Orange could be a potential imposter herself. She was also dressed like a carrot, which was Lime's least favorite vegetable, much to both of their dismays.

There, in big white letters across a big black screen, the words, "There are **2** **imposters** among us." flashed in front of the suited astronauts as soon as the Launchpad doors opened. They were supposed to be starting their tasks, and here they were, frozen in place like a deer in the headlights.

Each and every reflection was staring back at their fellow crewmates and friends... but they all knew that where there was an imposter, there was evil intent behind their glass helmets.

Cyan and Purple, a married lesbian couple, picked up their children to protect them just in case one of the imposters wanted to have a quick snack while the parents were looking elsewhere. Cyan whispers something in Purple's ear, something along the lines of, "They won't be safe on the ground." and promptly balanced the child on her own helmet so that the child was situated between her bear ears, and Purple's child was sitting on the pink flamingo. 

Purple tried to make light of the situation by bumping helmets with her wife and smiling. "So much for Bring Your Child to Work day..." The tiny astronaut on her head cooed as the flamingo squeaked, but Purple was internally freaking out knowing that her family was in danger. No one even died yet and she was worried.

Should they return to their home planet and risk contamination? A potential threat to civilization, two _aliens_ , wanted to use the natural resources for their own selfish gain.

As for the rest of the crew... they just started doing tasks. Green, Blue, Brown, and Red must have thought this was a joke and left the Launchpad in search of tasks to complete. Granted, it was a good idea, especially since the reactor core may experience a meltdown, the lights may go out, or the oxygen may deplete at any moment. 

Yellow, whom the entire crew calls Captain Joe, stands as straight as possible and puts their hands behind their back as soon as the message goes away, and everyone is left in complete silence. "Hm, I wonder if the control tower has anything to say about this..."

"Sir..." Commander Lee stands at his side with a clip board in hand and pats his yellow suit with her pink glove, and the two of them switch to a private comm where the man and woman can speak about the imposter situation without the crew hearing and give them orders. Being up in space was the safest situation for now, especially if an alien invasion were to happen. A crew of ten humans wouldn't want to infect an entire planet just because they didn't want to die.

As the Commander and the Captain began walking down the hallway to Communications, Joe turned on his radio and spoke to the rest of the crewmates. His crackly voice rang out through the speakers in their helmets. "Commander Lee and I are working on this little predicament with home base. Just hang tight and make sure to stay in pairs that way no one is alone. Just get your tasks done and this whole imposter business will be but a memory."

Commander Lee nods back at the others and waves awkwardly, almost reluctant to follow a potential imposter, even if it was her secret admirer. "Everyone," Pink, who is formally known as Commander Lee, begins her speech and stands beside Joe with her goggles slightly falling off her round helmet, "Let's not panic. I'm sure we'll all figure this out as soon as we can."

Meanwhile, Orange and Lime decided to get a move on. Orange held Lime close, telling her, "Let's get you to the Greenhouse. You always liked tending to plants."

White was unbothered by the sudden message and simply observed their own reflection with a hint of childish curiosity. Their astronaut suit was uncomfortable around their stomach area, but it was either the disguise or kill everyone now and risk hurting Black in the process. White found it funny that they were wearing an Angel halo when they had the potential to eat everyone in this room without batting an eye... save for the children of course.

Alien stowaways _did_ have standards after all, but there was just one problem: White had no idea who the other imposter was.

Before this important mission, White was a normal human-being, but was infected with a parasite as it was sneaking out of the specimen room at the Polus Outpost. The parasite wasn't even paying attention to who or what it was; it just wriggled its way inside White's suit and planted itself in his ear when Black wasn't looking. Black was too busy sorting samples to notice his partner writhing in pain... and Black blames himself for White's demise every single day.

The parasite clung to his brain like a tumor, generating an endless stream of demands that White couldn't keep up with. _"Kill Black..."_ The parasite told him. _"Sabotage your fellow crewmates... Leave no soul behind. Allow me to use your vessel to take over your home-planet."_

His body perished before the parasite could have full and total control, but Black was there to bring White back to life. Or... a stabilized version of White, anyway. From there, Black found out White was an imposter, and was forced to protect White from their fellow crewmates until the other imposter could be found and brought to justice.

White wasn't totally gone, not physically by any means. Although, if White even dared to take off his spacesuit, a disgusting mouth would be where his organs used to be, but the parasite already ate those long ago. Mentally, however, White was no longer himself. His voice sounded the same, his mannerisms were the same, but he went by "they/them" once the parasite finally harvested White's corpse. Everyone else thought White was exploring their gender, but Black knew the truth.

Speaking of Black, he was right by White's side, sometimes looking up at the reflective monitor, and other times staring at the hollow shell of their former partner with a sad frown on their face.

He could let White follow him around while he was completing the tasks he was given: First, he needed to Swipe a Card located in the Admin room. Then, he needs to Chart the Course in Navigations. Emptying the garbage disposal in the Cafeteria and Storage seemed simple enough for White, Upload Data in the Admin room, Divert Power in the Electricity room, calibrate the distributor, Clean Out the Oxygen Filter, Fix Wiring wherever he can find it, Align the Engine Output in both of the Engine rooms, Inspect Samples in Medbay, and Submit Scans, which was also in Medbay.

It was a lot of tasks, sure, but considering the circumstances, Black and White wouldn't look suspicious when they ran past another couple of crewmates, they would have somewhere to go. 

He had no time to just sit and gawk at the message displayed on the monitor, so he sighs and begins to walk down the hallway with White as his side.

The others should be doing more important tasks, especially Commander Lee and Captain Joe, but Black didn't want to bother seeming suspicious by following them around. Black pulls out his map and shows it to White, who almost ignores it.

The imposters knew they couldn't strike now; not when the mission literally just started. No... they needed to wait for the perfect moment to vent, kill someone, and frame someone else for the murder when they discover the body. 

Black and his companions enter the ship, The Skeld, each with their own distinguishable colors and attributes. Cyan and Purple immediately set off to do tasks with their children in tow, seemingly untroubled by the warning just seconds before they even boarded.

"We should get moving, White." Black says, nudging White's helmet with his own.

"...Right. I will follow you." White replies, grasping Black's arm with their own. "But I cannot satiate my hunger for much longer, Black."

Black bites his lip as he continues walking, and shushes White as soon as they pass by Blue and Brown.

Those tasks weren't going to do themselves after all.

* * *

Black didn't mean to take his eyes off White, especially since he was too busy swiping the card in the Admin room. Why wasn't Black more careful? Now White could be who knows where, potentially shuffling through vents and popping out in the middle of a room full of their crewmates with the intent of eating them. What would happen to White if they got thrown into space? 

Black ran down hallways of the the ship, careful not to be seen by security cameras or other crewmates that were also performing tasks. If it wasn't for his negligence, someone would still be alive, and White would have eaten them without a second thought.

And Black still had so many more tasks to complete! He really, really didn't need this right now!

"Cyan? Cyan?" Purple called out, and Black came to a sudden halt and tried to hide behind the lower engine as Purple and her child walked past without a second thought. "Cyan we lost you, honey!"

There was no answer.

"Okay, well, I'll be doing a task in security if you need me!" She yells, then holds her child's hand as they turn a corner and begin her task, so Black took this opportunity to silent sneak past her and find White again.

As if by some stupid miracle, Black round a corner and ran into the Medbay, but what he found was more than what he expected.

Red was being scanned when it happened, so he had his back turned. The hum of the machine all but silenced the sound of the murder that was about to take place, but... of course Cyan had to see it.

Black stepped into the Medbay with his hand outstretched. His legs would have given out from under him if it wasn't for the adrenaline running through his veins at this very moment. White told Black he was an alien wearing his lover's skin, but he had no idea that it would look this bad up close. "Guys, don't go near them! They didn't mean it-"

"Black?! What are you doing in here?" Green demanded, but as soon as Black began to speak, White turned back to look at them as the mouth began to open.

White's stomach was a grotesque and bloody sight to behold, with razor sharp teeth surrounding the upper mouth area like a shark. Their tongue was like a spear as soon as it shot through the glass of Green's helmet, not even giving him time to react to the extraction of his brain. He made no sound, he didn't even move, as White's entire back was broken backwards and used as a giant mouth to practically tear off Green's entire top half, then forced their mouth closed.

The sharp teeth of the mouth chewed Green's bones and flesh into mush, and White relished in the taste with pleased blink. Their arms twitched and fell to the side as they finished eating, and the body of Green had digested. Green's crown fell off their head and tragically hit the floor. "Delicious..." The mouth's voice was guttural and low... way too low for White's normal voice. This must have been the parasite speaking for White. 

Black caught a glimpse of White's eyes beneath their helmet as soon as their spine broke to open the parasite's mouth; the other half of their face was clouded by shadows, but the half that Black could see was eerily... normal. Save for the inability to feel emotion or pain, of course. White was almost relieved to see Black, but regretted feasting on Green with Black watching.

Cyan's eyebrows furrowed together as she witnessed Green's corpse fall to the ground, and bile rose in her throat once the meaty flesh oozed blood onto the stainless steel floor of The Skeld. Placing a hand atop her child's helmet, she begins to hyperventilate as the stench of the corpse began to rise into the air. "W-White... You're an imposter?"

Despite the gruesome death, White had little to no blood on them, and their spine bent back into shape as the mouth molded back into their spotless, white spacesuit. They were unfazed by Cyan's accusation, but she was determined to hold an emergency meeting by turning around and trying to run away.

Cyan all but shrieked as Black put his glove to her mouth to shush her, and Red continued being scanned as if he didn't have a care in the world while White watched on.

"White and I are leaving this room whether you like it or not, Cyan. I care about them too much to see them die... even if they've been possessed by that... parasite." Black whispers, and White slowly makes their way over to Cyan and her child. The poor thing was so terrified that it was shaking with fear.

Before she could do anything, Black threw Cyan to the floor, apologizes to the tiny astronaut that witnessed a literal murder, grabs White's hand as tight as he could, and runs down the hallway to the cafeteria in the hopes of framing Cyan for murder. "Green is dead... Green... White _ate_ Green." He was on the verge of tears as he relived the horror that became White when they needed to feed on a capable astronaut.

White doesn't argue of course, but as soon as Black reaches the button on top of the table, White covers it with the palm of their hand and stares their partner in the eyes with the intensity of a predator hunting its prey. 

"What are you doing, White?" Black demands, trying to shove their hand away from the button. "We need to hold an emergency meeting so we don't look suspicious!"

White doesn't falter as their partner continues forcing their hand away, but White was so still that Black's efforts were doing next to nothing. "...You were afraid of me, weren't you?" White whispers, their hand finally falling away from the big red button. "I saw that look in your eyes, Black. You thought I was going to eat you next, didn't you?" White looks up at Black, and stretches out their arms to pull Black in for an awkward hug. "I would never do that."

Black hesitates, but hugs White close despite a literal mouth hiding itself as their torso. Black's tears begin streaming down his cheeks as he realizes that White wasn't going to hurt him, but the thought of his lover being possessed by an alien was so devastatingly tragic that he couldn't help but wish he was rid of them so they could finally rest. "I know, White... I know." 

~~~

"Hey, Green, did you want to scan yourself next-" Red offered as they began to turn around, but as Black and White made their way out of the Medbay, Cyan and Red maintained eye contact.

"R-Red, it's not what it looks like. I assure you..." Cyan tried to reason, her boots stained with crimson.

"...I know what a murder looks like, Cyan."

~~~

DEAD BODY REPORTED!

DISCUSS!

~~~

"Where?" Orange demanded as soon as they reached the cafeteria.

"Where??" Lime asks as well.

Captain Joe and Commander Lee were already there, seated right next to each other. A picture of Green's bottom half was printed out into a picture from the security cameras, and everyone piled inside to have a meeting.

"Green's dead?" Blue asks worriedly, and Brown followed suit.

Red breathlessly runs inside since he was the last one to make it to the meeting, especially since Green and Red just so happened to be partners. "I was in the Medbay when it happened! Cyan was the only one there!"

Cyan was quiet as Purple came to her aid, and began whispering in her ear as the two tiny astronauts welcomed one another in the cafeteria by nudging helmets together. Cyan was hugging herself and sniffling, and her boots were stained with blood.

Seated around a table inside the cafeteria with the big and red Emergency button hidden inside a glass box, everyone began their discussions on who or what could have killed Green when no one was around; save for Red's accusation. The crew were all on edge after Red reported the corpse of Green who became nothing more than legs with a clean white bone sticking out of their torso.

It was pretty disgusting that White wasn't human, and that their mouth had razor sharp teeth and their long tongue was literally in their stomach... and yet; Black couldn't find it in them to tell the others that White was an imposter. 

Black cared about White, even if they weren't themselves anymore. Maybe the imposter took over White's current body and was using Black for their own selfish gain? Maybe the feelings White had for Black carried over into the imposter? This was all really confusing. 

White was an extraterrestrial being... and there was still one more imposter hidden among them. The only question was... who could it be among the remaining the remaining eleven crewmates?

Running his tongue over his dry lips, Black's gloved hand inched over to White's, and he grasped it, hoping for some way to reassure his... partner? White hasn't shown him any affection since the mission even began. "We'll get through this. Okay, White?"

White looked up, slowly of course given the circumstances, and nodded. "I know we will." Their voice was monotone, but it sounded masculine now rather than the ear-shattering and distorted version from earlier. "I won't let them vote you out, Black. Mark my words." White's hand gripped Black's glove even tighter and moved in close to where their glass was practically touching, and a glint in their eyes showed courage and bravery, almost like they weren't afraid of any and all accusations that were going to be made.

It was incredible that the other crewmates weren't suspicious, but everyone knew Black and White had an on and off relationship since they were transported to The Skeld. Perhaps his lover was simply blending in with the other human crewmates, but it was hard to tell.

Black's lip curls into a small smile once White makes their promise, and he had a glimmer of hope that maybe somewhere, somehow, White was still in there. 

Cyan, quick to assume the worst in people, threw her helmet to the ground and pointed towards White with a fire in their eyes. Their tiny counterpart, another astronaut that was the same color, hid behind the older one's leg in fear. "It was them! Black and White are framing me!"

Purple's child came to the other child's rescue by nudging it with their helmet, but no one paid them any mind no matter how cute it was. Two imposters were among them, and had to pay for the death of Green.

Cyan knew for a fact that White killed and ate Green when Red was too busy scanning themselves in the Medbay; but Black wasn't going to let the others vote them out.

Black loved White too much, and they weren't going to let White get voted off just because Black threatened that Cyan was going to get eaten like her Green crewmate... Even if they did poke a hole through the glass helmet with their razor sharp tongue.

"Perhaps it was a self report?" Lime suggested once the silence became unbearably uncomfortable, and Orange tried to agree by nodding.

Blue shrugged their shoulders and played with the black top hat atop their helmet. "Where's the proof? Black and White don't have a speck of blood on either of them."

"I saw White I swear! Red can vouch for me, he was in the Medbay!" Cyan points at Red as she argues with her superiors.

Brown and Orange looked to each other, and Pink and Yellow did nothing but stay quiet. Everyone else was too busy doing tasks to notice where the body was even reported, so they really had no say in this.

Yellow, Captain Joe, laughs to themselves and tilts their head to the side whilst fixing their blue hat. "Cyan, you're being mad sus right now."

Purple sneers and puts an arm between Yellow and Cyan to protect their lover, but even then, their tiny purple counterpart was too busy comforting Cyan's child to pay attention to what was even going on. "Where's your proof? We have security cameras all over this ship! Odds are someone vented and Cyan just so happened to show up at the last minute to see what all the commotion was about!"

Brown takes off his helmet and stares Cyan in the eyes, causing everyone else to look over at them, save for White, who was too busy holding hands with Black to really pay attention to what he had to say. "Actually... someone sabotaged the cameras. When they finally came back online, you were standing above Green's body while Black and White ran off."

Red stayed quiet. Odds are, whatever excuse he came up with was going to be futile anyway. But... he had no idea what was going on. He was being scanned, and when he got out of the scanner, Green was dead, Black and White were running away, and Cyan just so happened to be standing right over the body when Red stepped out and saw his partner dead. 

Cyan's hands balled into a fist as soon as all eyes fell on her and her partner. Purple held her wife close and whispered that everything was going to be alright, but Cyan already knew it wasn't. Not by a longshot.

"Maybe Cyan and Purple are working together... If we get rid of them both we'll all be safe." White mumbles, and Commander Lee's mouth slightly gapes open.

"Captain Joe," Commander Lee looks up at him and stands up straight, "If White killed Green, there would have been blood all over their spacesuit. There's nothing on them."

"I'm clean too! I don't have any blood on me-" Cyan argues, showing everyone her spotless suit. But then, she notices the blood all over her shoes, and stops her sentence halfway.

Captain Joe raises the palm of his hand into the air to make her stop talking, then sighs, "Green's body was found inside the Medbay. In the time it took for everyone to arrive to the emergency meeting, you could have cleaned yourself up... Save for the shoes."

"This is ridiculous! Why would I want to kill Green? He was my friend! M-My crewmate-Please, Purple, do something about this-" Cyan's eyes locked with Brown, and her back hunched forwards. "Shouldn't you be suspicious of Red? He was Green's partner after all!"

Orange and Lime nod to one another, but it was too late. The voting was going to end soon and everybody wanted this emergency meeting to be over with.

Commander Lee raises her pink glove into the air and asks with a heavy heart, "All those in favor of voting out Cyan please raise your hand into the air."

Black felt bad for Cyan, especially since she was a mother and a wife to an entire family. With a heavy heart, Black rose his hand into the air and White quickly followed suit, neither hesitant, nor slow. The others, aside for Purple and Red, slowly rose their hands into the air, not making eye contact whatsoever. They regretted their decision, but if it meant getting rid of an imposter, they knew it was for the greater good.

"Then it settles it," Captain Joe says, tilting his blue hat down, "Cyan, you will be ejected out of The Skeld via launchpad. I recommend you say goodbye to your friends and family before you go." He grabs Cyan's arm and holds her still as she thrashes and screams in his grip, then Commander Lee follows suit and grabs her other arm.

"Let me go! I didn't do anything! White is an alien!" Once again, she tries to run, but Yellow and Pink are quick to hold her back. "Their stomach is a mouth, and their tongue is used to eat our brains! Please, you have to understand-" Cyan tries to yell, but as she turns around to plead with her fellow crewmates, they weren't making eye contact. 

Purple was hot on Captain Joe's and Commander Lee's tail with the tiny astronauts in tow, tears streaming down her cheeks as she tried to force off her purple helmet. Her flamingo deflated as soon as the helmet hit the floor, and the two tiny astronauts had to dodge the helmet as it crashed to the floor. "Captain, please, you can't do this! She has a family... children, s-she... There's no _proof!_ " 

"Do you want to get thrown out with her?" Commander Lee threatened as everyone followed Cyan to the airlock door.

"Purple, stop. It's not worth it, I can't get through to them... and someone has to take care of the little ones." Cyan's breath hitched as soon as Captain Joe began inputting the code to open the door, and Cyan tried to stall her death again. "Let me say goodbye to my family. _Please."_

Captain Joe hesitates, but continues inputting the code with a sorrowful look on his face. "...I'm sorry but, you risk killing someone else, Cyan. One wrong move and Purple might-"

"At least," Cyan shrieks out, prompting Purple to cover her ears a little bit, "At least let me..." She makes eye contact with her child, the little cyan astronaut and the little purple astronaut, then swallows. "Let me say goodbye to _them._ They have no idea that their mommy is going to leave them."

Commander Lee makes brief eye contact with Captain Joe as Cyan begins to sob now, and Joe's yellow glove is hovering over the number-pad. Sighing, he pauses the airlock for now, then nods halfheartedly. "I'll allow it, but don't let Cyan go. Imposters are tricky like that."

"I can't even hold my children one last time?" Cyan demands, catching a glimpse of White's cool and calm expression. Her blood begins to boil and her eyes narrow, but as soon as Commander Lee pushes Cyan to the ground so she could be eye-level with her children, she tilts her head to the side and begins to speak.

"Kids..." She can barely contain herself, and Purple is no better. She manages to give Cyan one last kiss, a sloppy one, and Cyan treasures it dearly. "Mommy isn't going to be... coming back. But you be good for Purple, you hear me? That means both of you. Take care of her for me. I-I love you both, so much."

"...Are you going out there?" Little purple asks, pointing out at the sky full of stars.

"Yes, yes... Mommy is going to become a star, and I'll make sure to watch over you every single day. I promise." Cyan whispers, and feels a tiny hand caress her cheek.

Little cyan caresses their mother's cheek and begins to sniffle, but Captain Joe grimaces at her cheesy promise. Either Cyan was selling it, or she wasn't an imposter.

"Will we ever see you again, mommy?" Little cyan asks, and their mother solemnly shakes her head.

"...Only in your memories, little one. Only in your memories."

The two tiny astronauts didn't understand, but it didn't sound good either.

"This is taking too long! Open the airlock already before she kills someone else!" Lime yells, prompting Orange to hold her back and take her into another room.

"W-Wait, what about Purple-" Her sentence was cut off before she could even finish it as the airlock burst open and dragged her into the cold vastness of space.

Cyan's body spun in a circle and was slowly losing air by the minute. Her former crewmates, her former friends, _betrayed_ her. She was forever lost in space with no way of surviving. Everything was so cold, so empty, so... scary. With a worried frown on her face, she corrects her movements and calmly floats through space like someone would float in a pool on a hot summer day.

She stopped spinning now, with her eyes lidded downwards and her mouth agape, she watched her wife bang her hands on the glass and beg for her to come home.

Her eyes caught a glimpse of her children, and for a second, she felt happy. She got to see her wife and children one last time, despite putting up a fight for her innocence. Little Cyan was staring out at their mother, not moving... but Cyan knew they were crying their eyes out. Little Purple, on the other hand, was in Purple's arms, not wanting to see their mother's death either.

Cyan perished due to the cold and lack of oxygen not long after that.

Commander Lee watched Cyan float out in space, then breaths in and looks towards Captain Joe. "Sir, I'm afraid she was innocent."

The remaining crew all realized something from sending their crewmate into space; the imposters were still on the ship.

Another message popped up on the flat-screen monitor, and Purple sobbed even harder now as she held the children, occasionally calling out to her wife who had no chance of hearing her.

**Cyan was not an imposter. (Two imposters remain)**

The entire crew just sent an innocent woman to her death and they don't even know who to trust, but Black's fears were slowly coming true... Their crewmates slowly began to suspect White.


	2. 10 Crewmates Remain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is on edge after the death of Green and Cyan, but that doesn't stop the killing spree. Another body turns up dead, but White and Black had nothing to do with it. Also, a wholesome Black and White flashback when they were younger.

Little Cyan hadn't taken the news of their mother's death very well, and they would consistently break free of Purple's grasp and make their way towards the giant glass window overlooking the countless stars, and the overwhelming vacuum of space. Their gloved hand reaches out and their palm touches the glass in some feeble attempt to force their mother to come back home, but something in the back of their mind knew it wasn't possible. Cyan's body was no longer visible after their mother was ejected from the ship, yet Little Cyan always tried their hardest to at least look for their mother in some silent hope that maybe... perhaps just _maybe_ , it was all a joke, and that Cyan was going to come back.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. Their mother's body disappeared; probably from the spaceship's engines pushing her frozen corpse further out into space due to force, so Little Cyan had no idea where she was and couldn't hold a funeral.

...What was an imposter anyway? Little Cyan couldn't get that word out of their mind, and Purple didn't want to explain what that word meant.

A few of the other crewmates watched Little Cyan sit by the window as they walked by, but they were far too busy to give Little Cyan the tender-loving-care they needed at this very moment. There was the occasional pat on the shoulder by some of the kinder crewmates and a quick apology, however Black and White... they were not to be trusted. Black was kind enough to wave, of course, but White stared Little Cyan down, prompting them to look away in fear.

The memory of Green's murder played back over and over in their mind; how White's back literally broke out of place to open up a salivating mouth hidden away in their torso, and that disgustingly long _tongue._ It was so sharp, it sucked out Green's brain without even hesitating to give him a chance to react.

Little Cyan was ready to run away from White if they ever saw them again, but they had to stay strong for now. They still had their sibling and their other mother to take care of, and they were more than determined to protect their family from White if necessary. Unfortunately, they had no idea how long that would last.

Younger astronauts rarely got to voice their opinion on something important since they were children, but actions did speak louder than words after all, so Little Cyan and Little Purple had no other choice but to ignore White as much as possible to arouse suspicions in the other crewmates. Once White was gone, they could get to work finding the other imposter and saving the mission and the adults involved. They just had to figure out _how_ to protect people first.

The adults were too busy completing their tasks around The Skeld to notice what was really at stake: Their own lives.

Additionally, Purple tried to console her child by requesting that they take a walk around the ship and continue completing their tasks together, but Little Cyan always declined, telling their mother that they'd rather wait for their other mother to become a star and visit them again. Little Cyan was far too innocent, albeit blunt, for their own good. 

Purple always ended up breaking down and walking off with Little Purple trailing not too far behind, which left Little Cyan all alone once more, hoping that wherever and whoever the imposters are, they don't hurt their mother next. Children never had a say in the matter when it came to voting out the adults, so it wasn't like Little Cyan's testimony would have mattered much, but maybe if they did speak up, their mother would still be alive and the ship would have one less imposter.

...Little Cyan and Little Purple won't know what to do if everyone else dies, but the kids didn't want to dwell on that yet. They were smart enough to know an imposter when they see one... right?

* * *

"...Hey, Orange?" Lime asks, using the lasers in Weapons to shoot incoming debris and space-rocks. She fixes her party hat and continues taking aim, then whispers to herself, "Only thirteen more to go."

"What's up, Lime?" Orange replies, watching her partner use the machine. Giggling to herself, she once again spins around in the Weapons chair, making her dizzy from continually going around in a circle. Her plant hat almost falls off, but that would ruin the whole "carrot" aesthetic, so she had it super glued to her helmet once the meeting was over.

Lime doesn't really like how Orange is so carefree about this whole murder mystery situation, but she doesn't say anything in fear of getting voted off next.

Maybe Orange is one of the imposters and Lime doesn't know it?

...Wait, no, that's ridiculous.

They were together the entire time, so it's not like Lime should be suspicious... yet, anyway. They've been together this whole time, so Orange couldn't have slipped away. Lime was practically superglued to Orange's arm as they traversed the halls of The Skeld.

"Do you think we did the right thing? You know, voting off Cyan like that? For all we know, Red could have murdered Green and framed Cyan. Now Purple is widowed and Little Cyan and Little Purple are orphaned... and it's all our fault. I wish I didn't yell at them either..." Lime whispers, then notices Blue and Brown walk by and evades eye contact with a quiet sigh. She's always been the socially awkward one out of everyone.

Orange, on the other hand, gives them a smile and a thumbs up as if to say, "We have everything under control!" without having the need to say anything at all. The Skeld had a tendency to echo for some reason, and Orange wasn't about to distract her crewmates by yelling without any reason to and annoying them much further.

Blue makes sure to tip their top hat and laugh a little as they watch Orange continue spinning in her chair, and Brown manages a small salute towards Lime once she's done shooting all the space-rocks. It wasn't before long when they finally decided to head towards the Navigations room, leaving Orange and Lime to do their tasks. 

"You've got to understand that we all had no idea if Cyan was the imposter or not, Lime. Sure, it was horrible that we sent an innocent woman to her death," Orange takes another spin, "But you have to understand that we're still alive, and you only yelled in the heat of the moment. You wanted to protect your fellow crewmates from a potential imposter."

"But...But, Little Cyan is trying to find their mother by staring out at the stars. T-They... They have no idea that she isn't coming back." Lime has a voice crack and she clears her throat while looking over at her partner. "Cyan's and Purple's children are so young... They don't deserve to get hurt like that."

"Maybe it's for the best that they don't know-"

The lights were sabotaged almost out of nowhere, leading to everyone's eyesight to diminish and unable to see a few feet in front of them. Orange taps the screen on her tablet to use it as a makeshift flashlight, only to no avail, and she comes to her feet with Lime at her side.

It wasn't before long when they saw Commander Lee stomp down the hallway after Brown and Blue, seemingly sealing something behind her leg. She held it tight, and her helmet obscured her current expression, but everything about her suspicious actions screamed, "Something is wrong, and I'm going to find out why." Commander Lee was probably heading towards the Comms room to fix the frequency, but Blue and Brown were already going that direction, so why would she bother?

Whatever she was holding didn't look like a flashlight either.

"Commander Lee!" Lime called out, but she didn't stop nor pay attention to her name being called, even when Orange tried to catch up with her. "Are you heading towards Electrical?"

Frowning, Orange and Lime locked eyes and shrugged. Suspiciously enough, Captain Joe was nowhere near her.

* * *

"Black, may I ask you a question regarding the amount of tasks we've completed so far? I'm beginning to get hungry again..." White mumbles, the palm of their hand rubbing their stomach area. The parasite lingering inside the spacesuit seemingly began to move and breathe from the imposter's touch, but it stayed hidden. "I wouldn't want to lose myself and see you get hurt. I just... need something to eat."

Staring down at the garbage chute in the O2 room, Black says nothing and pulls the lever down to release the leaves and general trash left behind by the other crewmates into space. He always felt bad knowing that so much debris would get launched out there, but he had no other choice if the crew wanted to keep The Skeld clean. His expression was a mixture of fear and exhaustion from having to complete so many tasks without White's help.

White could press "download" when extracting data on their tablets, but other than that, Black did most of the work while his partner waited idly by with a blank expression. Their yellow halo, which was propped up using a see-through piece of plastic, made Black feel a little bit better. Even as a parasite-controlled vessel, White wouldn't dare take off the hat they loved so much. Especially since Black bought that hat for them just before they entered the Polus Outpost awhile back.

Black's horns on his helmet also got in the way when he turned his head, but once he noticed White was acting strange, he immediately came to his feet and made eye contact with his partner. "You're hungry now, White? Can it wait? We still have a bunch of tasks to complete." He grasps White's hands as his partner's mouth begins to growl, but he had no idea if the noise came from their torso or their actual voice box. 

"Mm..." White grumbled, their face hidden in their helmet. "I don't know. However, I believe I can get by on some freeze-dried sustenance you people call _food_. Preferably a meat substitute, please."

"Okay, I'll look for something in the cafeteria. But first, we need to head over to the Garbage Chute in Storage." Black replies, and White nods hesitantly as they look around in the darkness. 

Black's mind wandered back to those sleepless nights in the training center all those years ago. How White rarely ever wanted to eat or sleep in preparation for space travel. As long as White studied hard and flattered the teachers with his intellect, Black could stand right behind him and try his best as well. 

Even though Black would never say it to White's face... he missed him. The _real_ him. Not this parasitic imposter wearing his own skin to threaten the lives of his old friends.

~~~

Black entered his and White's sleeping quarters in the Training Center for Future Astronauts with two plates of military-grade freeze dried rice & chicken in both hands and two bottles of water tucked against his arm and his waist. He hated having to eat this freeze-dried slop in preparation for space travel with his other comrades, but if it meant living on a space station with White and their friends, Black could endure it for a little while longer... but it wouldn't last forever.

There at the desk situated in the corner was White, his pencil moving frantically against the paper as he studied. A sad desk lamp was the only thing keeping the room lit, especially since it was currently "lights out", so it's not like White could turn on the light, even if he wanted to. Placed on the top bunk of his bunk bed, his uniform was sprawled about, but his eyes were hidden by his scruffy white hair and he continued studying for a test coming up.

As soon as he heard the door open, he put the pencil down and looked over at his roommate; Black. "Oh! You're finally back with the food I requested!"

"Hey, I got dessert for us too. I think it's strawberries." Black shows off the white yogurt topped with red fruit, but he couldn't tell if it was strawberries or raspberries. He never really paid attention to the food, he just ate it.

White began to smile and rub his wrist in pain, almost like he was trying to pop it after using it so much. Since the minute Black's and White's classes ended a few hours ago, White hid himself away in their dorm room to study for the next test while Black practiced the antigravity simulator for a while. Now that they were finally together in their room, they could relax and unwind or help one another study if they needed it.

Black laughs and hands White the tray of food, then gives him the bottle of water with the other. He sits on the bottom bunk and rests his warm plate of food on his legs.

Now with his own plate and his own bottle of water, Black watches White chow down on the freeze dried rice and chicken with a content smile.

"You've been studying this whole time? Haven't you had any breaks, White?" Black asks as he takes a bite of his own food. He savors the taste, unlike White, who wants to get back to studying rather than resting so he can retain information. Black noticed some dark circles under his eyes from the stress, but didn't say anything about it. White's self esteem was already so low, and Black didn't want to make it worse.

White looked up from his food and drank some water while Black worriedly watched on, then wiped his mouth with a napkin. "I had... a couple of breaks. Why? What time is it?"

Black continues to eat his food, "It's nighttime... We're supposed to be sleeping."

Catching a glimpse of his incomplete work, White sighs and shuts the textbook, as well as his notebook, then places them off to the side. "Figures. I spent so much time studying the work that I forgot to do the homework. Oh well... I'll do it in the morning. What about you, Black?"

"Well," He begins, a smirk gracing his features, "...I'll copy off of you. Unlike yourself, I had fun using the antigravity machine with Cyan. We had to collect space-rocks that were difficult to catch midair."

White says quiet and keeps eating, but he grumbled to himself once he realized he could have practiced rather than study in a dark and boring room.

Getting out of his chair, White takes his blanket off his top bunk and places it on the floor while Black watches on.

White then rummages through the desk and takes out a small projector and places it on the ground, then turns off the light on the desk.

Black's eyebrows furrow together as he watches White work, and now he can't see. "You know you're not supposed to have outside technology in this school right-"

White shushes him by turning on the projector and bathing the steel room in a blue, pink, and violet light as it projected an array of stars and planets onto the ceiling. It spun slowly, as if simulating the planet performing a night cycle, and through the darkness, White and Black locked eyes. A few constellations were visible on the walls, but White and Black were too tired to play the guessing game where they said the name of each one that passed by.

They knew they weren't allowed to have technology from home in this facility, especially since they were strict enough to suspend or even expel students if they were caught with such objects. But White was always a risk taker, and Black was quick to follow without another word. Placing his food on his bed, Black grabbed a pillow so they wouldn't be resting on the cold, hard floor, then placed it on the blanket so they could rest beside one another and stare up at the stars.

"You're lucky I like to keep secrets, White." Black grunts as he begins to lie down. "...We haven't done this in quite awhile, have we?"

As White begins to lie down next to him, he laughs and excitedly presses himself against his roommate. "No, no we haven't. I'm always so busy that you end up finding me asleep at the desk, and you're so busy with simulations that I never get to have any of the fun."

Black's eyes blink as he continues looking up at the fake stars, but he can't but look away. He wants to look at White, but the galaxies and stars were so captivating that he found himself getting lost in them. His legs were still jittery from floating in the air. 

"Someday, I want to go to space and live on a space station! Wouldn't that be the life? Collecting samples, driving rovers on an uncharted planet, antigravity, ship repairs..." White sighs, reaching out his hand towards the beautiful display currently being projected onto the ceiling. "It's something I've dreamed of my entire life!"

Black turns his head to the side and smiles at White. "I remember. Your entire bedroom was coated with outer space merchandise. Every time I came to your house, we had to play space rangers in your backyard..."

White chuckles. "I made you stay up all night one time to find an alien because I saw a big red light in the sky... but it was actually just an airplane. You didn't talk to me at all the next day."

Black laughs again, but White stays quiet.

"You'll be there with me right? Right, Black?" White asks, his voice laced with hopeful enthusiasm. His hand, aching for the chance to finally rest, was suddenly grasped by Black as they both stared up at the ceiling. Their bodies were warm against the cold, metallic floor, so they snuggled up close while sharing the pillow. "You and I will be _real_ space rangers someday, right?" 

The round projector continued to spin as slowly as possible in their tiny room, creating a low humming sound from its motor. Unfortunately, despite the school's reputation for sending student's to space to show them the wonders of the universe, they didn't have any windows. "It's to save money!" the school said, but White missed seeing the sky through his window, so he took it upon himself to buy a galaxy projector and hook it up in their room.

"Of course we will, White. I promise." Black replies, reassuring his partner. Apparently that was the right answer, because as soon as Black made his promise, White brought his hand down and let Black kiss it.

"Maybe..." White begins, his eyelids getting heavy from lack of sleep. "Maybe you and I can use that antigravity simulator tomorrow. Cyan can bring Purple along... We'll make it a double date."

Black's heart skips a beat and his eyes widen a little once White suggests they all hang out. "A date..." Black whispers, just as White falls asleep. "I'd love that."

Staying up just a little longer, Black continues watching the stars as he held White close, and listened to his heartbeat.

* * *

In the time it took for Black to remember their younger days, they came into contact with Orange and Lime, so it seems everyone was heading towards the Garbage Chute located in the Storage center. The two girls began walking on either side of Black and White, hopeful to make conversation with their most trustworthy crewmates since the murders began.

"O-Oh, hey, White! Hi Black! We were looking for Captain Joe and Commander Lee... You guys haven't seen them, have you?" Lime stutters out as soon as everyone bumped into each other.

White begins to wave, but Black cuts them off by grasping White's wrist and awkwardly smiling. "I'm afraid we haven't. We've been completing tasks and emptying the garbage ended up being something we still had to finish. What about you guys?"

Orange continues, "We saw Commander Lee, but she was alone for some reason. Normally, her and Captain Joe are inseparable but they must have split up once the lights went out-" As soon as they reached the Electrical room, they were met with Blue's corpse situated near the switches, and Orange's sentence ended there.

"...That's a dead body." Lime whispered to Black, and White shuffled closer to him. They were breathing heavily, almost like they wanted to eat Blue's flesh right here, right now, even with Orange and Lime watching.

"Yeah," Orange gulps, holding Black's arm with sharp breaths, "That's Blue's body... But where is-"

"Oh, hey guys! You guys are fixed the lights then? That's good, because I was looking for-" Brown walks in and freezes as he notices Blue's corpse with multiple stab wounds through the back of their spacesuit, "Blue..."

Black's expression softens once Brown takes off his helmet to cry without the fog steaming up the glass, but Lime grew anxious and hid behind Orange. In turn, Orange held out her hand to protect her, especially since Brown was blocking the only exit. This could be a trick to make the others sympathize with Brown. 

"T-The lights went out, I swear. We lost one another in the darkness, but apparently they knew where to go," Brown sniffled and fell to his knees as he explained himself, "So, I got lost. And I tried to follow them to the Electricity room to flick the switches back into place... But I was too late. You have to believe me, you know how bad my vision is!"

No one says anything, but they do give Brown the once over. He didn't have any blood on him from what they could make out, but White was getting hungrier by the minute and had to take their mind off the corpse.

White sighs and leans their head on Black's shoulder. "Let's get this meeting over with."

~~~

DEAD BODY REPORTED!

DISCUSS!

~~~

"Where was the body?" Captain Joe demands while fixing his hat, but Commander Lee wasn't with him. His yellow spacesuit was spotless, but no one had any idea where Commander Lee was; his pink partner. He clears his throat and stuffs something into his pocket as everyone piled inside the cafeteria, once again ready for a meeting to either vote one of their crewmates out, or skip the meeting altogether and risk getting killed later on.

"I was in the Weapons room shooting space-rocks with Purple. We decided to team up since Cyan is... gone." Red said, and Purple was definitely worse for wear.

Her eyes were bloodshot from crying so much and her legs practically went out from under her, had it not been for Little Purple's and Little Cyan's help. The children were practically holding up their mother so they wouldn't lose sight of her or find her dead, so Red offered to help in case they were orphaned altogether.

"The meeting couldn't have waited? Really? I was waiting for Red and _someone_ interrupted it by calling a meeting. Now he has to do that task all over again!" Purple argued, but Little Purple and Little Cyan held her close.

"Captain Joe?" Commander Lee demands once she storms inside. She practically pushes past people in an attempt to reach her partner, "I've been looking for you everywhere! After the lights went out, you just... fled! I-I tried to find you but you seemingly vanished! I heard a vent squeak and thought the worst was about to happen, I'm so glad you're alright."

"Calm yourself, Lee," Captain Joe says, grasping her hand as if to reassure her, "A body was discovered in the Electricity room. You and I lost one another in the darkness and I spent my time trying to look for you as well. Do you know how afraid I was? Thinking the body was your own because I was stupid enough to leave you to your own devices?"

Commander Lee blushes and pulls her hand away, not maintaining eye contact with her superior. "You shouldn't have to worry yourself, Captain Joe. I can take care of myself... I too thought you were in trouble, but I suppose you're alive. I shall sit beside you then... By the way, has the control tower said anything to you?"

"No, not a thing. I told them about Cyan, Green, and now Blue, but they haven't responded. Too much static..." Captain Joe explains, readjusting his helmet.

"Once the meeting is over, I'll try to fix the scanner in Communications." She replies.

After their short conversation, everyone piles inside and stands around the cafeteria table, ready to give their testimony.

"Blue fixed the lights by the way." Brown practically whispered, as he was still shaken up from finding his friend murdered.

"You might have also turned off the lights." Purple argued back, not really herself. "That way, you lured them into a dark room, killed them, hid in a vent and popped out in a different room, then walked into Electrical once Black, Orange, Lime, and _White_ were standing around the body. Not only that, but once the lights went out, Red disappeared and left my kids and I all alone."

Little Cyan and Little Purple were off at another table playing with toy spaceships on another cafeteria table to pass the time, but Commander Lee smiled to herself once she noticed them making rocket noises.

Brown was nervously twiddling his fingers as everyone tried to come up with something to say to such a theory.

Black tried to help by telling Purple, "Brown doesn't have blood on him though."

"I don't know..." Orange crosses her arms and tilts her head to the side. "Brown wasn't even in the room when we walked in, but someone must have escaped through the vent behind the wall."

Purple's eyes narrow. "Cyan didn't have blood on her either but she was still ejected-"

Captain Joe raises his hand into the air. "Enough. Lime, you haven't spoken yet, what do you think of all this?"

Lime nods and agrees with Orange, but she decided to speak her opinion. "Red is sus... Purple said she was alone... But sir, I really don't think Brown would have murdered someone for no reason! Orange and I saw them heading towards Electrical."

Red's eyes widen and he looks up in fear and shock. " _Me?_ Why me? I have no reason to kill Blue! The lights went out and everyone got lost, that doesn't mean I killed them!" 

Purple didn't bother to say anything, but her heart sunk once she realized that everyone was going to vote out Red just because she and her children were left behind. She would never admit it because she's a pacifist, but she wanted to see how it felt to betray someone in her exhausted state. "Red left me all alone... If he wanted me dead and my children orphaned, he could have thrown me under the bus. And he did."

A smirk graced White's features once they realized that everyone's suspicions were no longer on them, and everyone's eyes turned to Red. 

He shrunk back and avoided eye contact with his crewmates, but still tried to defend himself. "The lights were sabotaged and they went out. I couldn't see and Purple didn't want to follow me in fear of getting murdered..." Red began to raise his voice in his anger, "So, I had no other choice but to hold onto the wall and walk down a pitch black hallway... where I could have been murdered at any second! How do you think I felt? Huh?"

Little Cyan and Little Purple stopped playing with their toy spaceships as Red slammed his fists onto the table, and Commander Lee's eyes widened in surprise.

Captain Joe's expression didn't change. "Red... That's quite enough out of you."

"...Should we vote now?" Black suggested, and everyone's eyes fell onto him once he spoke. 

White's mouth groaned again, simulating the way a stomach growled for food and winced. "Brown is innocent." They say. "Red was in the Medbay with Green. Black and I ran out because... because..." Making eye contact with Black for a split second, White stands to their feet and tells Captain Joe, "Red _ate_ Green. I saw him do it."

Lime and Orange gasp at the same time once White speaks, and Captain Joe raises a brow.

Red's eyes narrow, and by then, he was a raging maniac. While it was true he didn't want to die, these false accusations were making him so angry that he couldn't control himself. He launched across the table with his hands clawing at White's helmet to yank it off in order to get to their neck. "That's a lie! You're a liar you stupid piece of-"

"Get your hands off of them, Red!" Black screams, trying to pull White away, "Stop it! Leave him alone, _now!_ "

Falling to the floor and pinning White underneath him, Red punches White in the chest as White begins to cough and sputter from the intensity of the punch. Luckily enough, the helmet wasn't going to come off anytime soon since it was attached to the spacesuit, but Red was still attacking them.

Purple takes her children away as the fight breaks out, and Captain Joe stands to his feet with his mouth gaping open. "Commander Lee, Brown, take Red to the Airlock Chamber, now! I'm not going to have an imposter attacking one of my crewmates in the middle of a meeting!"

Black was frantic as he tried to pull Red away from his partner, who in turn, tried to grab Black's arm to be safe from the blows. Commander Lee and Brown did as they were told by yanking Red off the panicked White, but Red was still spouting nonsense as he watched Black help White to his feet.

It wasn't before long when Black took matters into his own hands by kicking Red in the stomach in retaliation for hurting his partner, forcing him to fall to the floor in pain. "You don't understand, White is constantly spreading false rumors! You've got to stop falling into their trap, Black! Everyone, w-why can't you see that they're turning us against each other? I didn't eat anybody, I swear!"

"Black!" Captain Joe scolds, "Violence doesn't solve itself with violence."

"B-But, he... he _attacked_ White!" Black yelled back, holding White close. "They can barely breathe because of how hard he punched them!"

Red coughs and sputters from the intensity of Black's kick. "I hope they stop breathing-" Commander Lee stops him there by hitting him in the back of his head. 

"Enough! You are to be ejected via airlock! We aren't even going to bother to vote, you've already ruined your chances." She says, and Brown and Commander Lee begin to take him.

The others follow suit, but Captain Joe stops Black and White. 

White wasn't dying by any means, but Captain Joe listened to their shaky breathing. "They should end up with bruising on their chest and the inability to breathe properly for awhile. Please get them to a respirator as soon as possible."

"Yes, yes, I will. Oh, White..." Black almost starts to cry, but he has to be strong in front of his superior. "I don't even know why White didn't fight back... I thought they would-"

Captain Joe pats Black on the back as he holds White close to his chest on the floor. 

White holds him back, occasionally coughing and whispering Black's name. Their mouth begins to groan again, either from the pain or hunger. Possibly even both.

"You don't have to see Red get ejected. Purple doesn't want to see it either." 

With a heavy heart, Commander Lee and Brown let go of Red as he was launched into space almost as quickly as Captain Joe turned around. He screamed the whole way, but as soon as the air ran out, he tried to take in a breath of air, only to find that he couldn't.

Red always wondered what the feeling of space was like without a helmet, just... not like _this._

He could feel his muscles contracting his his veins pop out of his neck as he clawed at his chest to take in _something,_ but there was nothing at all. He watched his fellow crewmates disperse, almost like they were disappointed knowing he wasn't an imposter. 

His arms, legs, and torso slowly became blue, and in a last ditch attempt to take in oxygen, he tried to make a sound. Red failed, of course, and released the only remaining amount of air still trapped inside his lungs.

...Red perished not long after that. No goodbyes, no words of wisdom... nothing.

 **Red was not An Imposter. (2 Imposters Remain)**

Watching Red's body float all alone out in space, Black sighs and continues to hold his partner close. Then, and only then, did Black begin to break down. "Come on, White, let's get you to the Medbay." 

"But, Black," White tries to say, but sucks in a breath. "You would have to take off my helmet... I don't want you to see-"

"No matter how much you've changed, I still think you're beautiful... Now come on, I'll carry you there." Black gets to his feet and grunts as he lifts White up.

"Wait... Before you enter the Medbay, can you get me some freeze-dried chicken and rice?" White asks. "I'm still hungry."

Black couldn't help but laugh a little. "S-Sure... yogurt with strawberries for dessert too?"


	3. 8 Crewmates Remain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Orange and Lime call Headquarters in Comms, and something horrible happens. Black tends to White in Medbay, leading to White's face reveal since the parasite took over. Yellow and Pink try to spend time alone together. As for Purple and Brown, they wonder how to protect the kids.

White was sitting up on the bed, occasionally coughing or clutching their bruised chest in pain as they fidgeted with their white suit. Another growl broke the silence as White hugged their stomach-mouth in annoyance, but they knew they couldn't do anything about it until Black fixed them up. Their legs swung back and forth as they watched Black look for the proper medical supplies to check if White had any internal injuries, but all he really needed was a stethoscope and a bag of ice and they were pretty much good to go.

Black, on the other hand, had an array of tools sprawled out on the clean and blue disposable sheet situated off to the side... although he probably had little to no use for them anyway, since White swore one of the tools was used for opening wounds, rather than closing them.

He was shaky with his movements, probably from Blue's and Red's demise just minutes before the meeting was called off and everyone continued with their tasks. "You'll be okay, White, I promise. I-I'm... I'm going to fix you up." He promised, holding White's hand for a minute, then got to work again, finding unnecessary materials and tools to use to fix up his former lover, although the fight was still replaying in the back of his mind.

"...Can I eat yet, Black? I'm still so hungry." White asserted as they began to jump off the bed to head to the cafeteria on their own. "I'll be right b-"

Black, holding them back, gasps and shakes his head in fear. "No!" He practically shouts, then stops in fear of the other crewmates hearing him and witnessing White's current status. "Just stay here, White. Please... You'll get your food later, but right now... I need to check the injuries that Red gave you. You'll get your food _after._ Can't you wait a few minutes?" He was practically crying by the time White pushes themselves against the bed, hopeful for the chance to finally eat if they just sat still.

"...But you'll need to take off my spacesuit, Black. You haven't seen their real face for a very long time." White explains in a monotone voice, then taps their white glove against their helmet. "Your lover is no longer the same as they once were. Once you take off this helmet, whatever you thought they used to look like will be warped into something disgusting and dangerous... But it's still them, I can assure you." The parasite was speaking for White, despite Black's chances of taming whatever was living in his lover's head, controlling their every move and form of communication. "They still love you... through me."

White's arms wrapped around Black's shoulders and pulled him in for a much needed hug, but Black couldn't find it in him to hug him back, despite having every desire to do so. All he could do was nudge White away and hold his arm out, preparing to unzip the zipper belonging to the spacesuit to get White's helmet off and assess any and all damage to their chest area. Black didn't want to see White's current appearance, but he had no choice if it meant they could finally have some alone time away from other crewmates.

But like most things, Black just couldn't let White go, no matter how much his lover must have been suffering all those months whilst living with a brain-eating parasite tucked away inside his ear. Even if this parasite was _using_ Black as an accomplice so they don't get voted out and sent into space, Black knew the parasite still had enough compassion to show their lover just how easy it would be to get on his good side... and he hated it.

"Shall I lie back, Black?" White asks, their voice low and exhausted from hunger. "You can undo my spacesuit first, of course. That way I'm more comfortable while you tend to my wounds."

Nodding, Black gets to work by holding White's helmet in place and unzipping the spacesuit by going downwards, prompting a relieved sigh coming from White as the unbreathable fabric was finally pushed away from their scarily pale skin. 

The spacesuits were definitely a little stuffy, but considering White's mouth was being covered by the fabric, they could finally let it breathe as soon as it comes off. White sighs and tilts their head to the side as soon as the stomach parted, revealing a set of sharp teeth and an interested tongue covered in saliva, as if they were all looking for their next meal.

The parasite knew _exactly_ what they were doing now, so Black had to be extremely careful not to let his guard down while cleaning up his lover.

Black sucks in a breath as soon as he see's the noticeable black and blue bruising forming on White's skeletal chest, but there was a white tank-top underneath, so it wasn't like White only wore underwear and nothing else. There was no rib-damage from what he could see, especially since Red was mostly aiming to rip off their helmet to show everyone White's current appearance. Continuing to pull the zipper, Black makes contact with the slobbering tongue that longed for a breath of fresh air, and he pulled away almost immediately. 

Did... White want to eat Black now that they were finally alone?

"Oh, come now, my dear... You can be a little bit rougher than that, I don't mind. Go on," White's expression was shielded by their helmet, but by the smoothness of their voice and their sensual body language, anyone could tell just what kind of ideas White had up their sleeve, "I don't bite... Hard." They loll their head to the side and make a growling noise, but it certainly wasn't from their stomach. The razor sharp tongue, however, did poke and prod at their exposed teeth once Black began to take off the helmet.

Black blinked and realized that his own helmet was off to the side, then stopped half-way; Just what did this parasite have in mind by that? How and why did their mind get so dirty in such little time?

"W-What? Are you sure you didn't suffer a concussion when you hit the ground? White never talked like this, you know." He grumbled. Black didn't complain though, especially since they could _finally_ unwind, but if someone walked in and saw them like this... Well, Black might just have to become an imposter to save White's skin.

Caressing Black's cheek with their exposed hand, White used their other hand to rip off their white helmet and toss it against the bed, then ruffled their white hair that was sticking to their forehead. Making eye contact with Black, they ask, "Am I still the White who you've known and loved after all these years, Black? Or am I someone completely different?"

Black couldn't believe his eyes. White... changed, of course, but they changed very little despite being used as a vessel for a parasitic alien. 

The eye nearest to their ear was cloudy, and no pupil could be seen, but little red veins ran through their exposed sclera and down into their eyelids. The ear that the parasite crawled into was definitely worse for wear, as it was clogged and oozing a strange brown material that was hidden by the helmet. There was no doubt that the helmet was a disgusting and smelly mess now that the smell was no longer trapped. Additionally, aside from White's cheekbones poking out whenever they smiled, his lips were no longer pink and full like they once were. Now, they were chapped and blue, dried up by the saliva travelling towards their stomach rather than their former mouth. 

"W-Well," Black didn't know what to say to White, no matter how badly he wanted to, "You're still... you? Um..." Cupping White's face with his gloved hands, Black doesn't hesitate to press his forehead against his lover, then whisper, "It's been so long since I've seen your face, White. I've missed it so much."

"...Come then. Show me how much you missed me, Black." White pleaded, solemnly closing their eyes as Black took in every single detail of White's face, "Nothing in the world could ruin this moment... I won't allow it."

Their first kiss since the parasite incident on the Polus Outpost was... tender. Black's and White's kisses always started off slow, where it would just be the two of them on the top bunk, holding one another close and whispering sweet-nothings while everyone else was asleep in their pitch-black dorms that felt more like a prison than a home. Even if they were together, it wasn't like the school cared to bother with the bare necessities. Sometimes it was so cold that Black and White would have to share body heat just to stay warm. That was how their relationship started, after all.

White would nip at Black's top lip with their abnormally clean and dull teeth, prompting Black to pull away in fear of White getting hungry again, but... that was almost always something White did when they would spend time together. It practically made Black begin to cry once he realized that, despite everything, there was a little bit of White left in this hollow shell. 

Either White was still in there somewhere... or the parasite harboring inside his mind was a really, _really_ good kisser. Almost too good of a kisser, funnily enough.

Breaking away from the sloppy kiss, White blinks and stares up at Black using their one good eye that wasn't clouded with red veins, and sighs longingly. "Look at me, Black. I'm an ugly parasite wearing your lover's skin. You have the audacity to kiss me after every horrible thing I've ever done. I expected you to feel little to no connection to something like me since I ruined White's life."

"...No matter who or what you are, you're still my White. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I swear, i-if," Black's sentence trails off as soon as White caresses his cheek with their cold, pale hand, "If anyone tries to vote you off, I'll get ejected with you! You're the only one that matters now. You're still mine. If the entire crew is suspicious of us, I'll hold your hand and never look back! I don't want you to leave me again, White... I don't want to live in a world without you in it."

White's expression softens and laughs a little at how serious Black was being. "So you would still love me, even if I kill your entire crew? I'm wearing your lover's skin and you know it."

"If push comes to shove, and the other imposter manages to kill off everybody except you and I, we'll take Purple's and Cyan's kids and leave The Skeld using one of the escape pods. We'll be a family somewhere else... on another planet!"

Black leans in for another kiss, maneuvering his body so that White practically has to scoot against the mattress to sit upright, and they interlock their hands together in some unspoken confirmation as if to say, "It's alright. I've got you... I love you."

The tongue in White's stomach-mouth slightly wrapped around Black to act as another arm to pull him in close and wrap their legs around his waist as they continued to affectionately hold one another as close as possible. "I'd love that, Black."

While it was a little frightening to feel such a long tongue wrap around him like a snake, clinging to him and refusing to let go, he couldn't find it in him to push away his lover. Even while the ice pack was melting on the table, even while the tools who spent so much time trying to find were patiently waiting to give White a check-up, even while White must've been aching and starving after so many tasks and pointless meetings to get through, Black and White needed this. They _wanted_ to spend time together... alone, clinging to one another after so many months of slowly drifting apart.

Black hoped that their crewmates didn't walk in on them like this, but in all honesty, how could Black explain to a member of his crew that White wasn't deliberately trying to eat him? It was almost... riveting to kiss someone when you weren't supposed to. It was only the public displays of affection like kissing or hugging that Captain Joe and Commander Lee could allow, especially since space travel was stressful.

But _this_? Where the possibility of someone walking in on Black pressing White against the bed was bound to happen at any moment? There were tons of pros and cons, sure, but... as much as Black didn't want to, he had to give White the ice pack and check to see if they had any broken bones. The only problem was (although Black thought this wasn't really a problem) was that White wouldn't let go, no matter how much Black tried to pull away from their make-out session.

By then, they were breathless, and White's stomach tongue had practically salivated all over Black spacesuit, but it wouldn't dare eat him. Black tries to break away, "White-" He's cut off as his lover makes a sweet sound and cups his face with their hands again, their lips no longer chapped as they continued to leave kisses up and down his neck, seemingly without a break. The mouth in their torso probably breathed for him whenever the smaller mouth was incapable of taking in air.

"No..." White whispers, not ready to let go until they've had their fill of Black, "Not yet. I can feel your heart racing... You want more of me, don't you?"

"White," Black removes White's tongue from around his waist as delicately as possible, then allows it to retract back inside of their stomach-mouth as White's expression is mixed with confusion and disappointment as they laid back against the bed, "Stop. We have to get you cleaned up. We have more tasks to finish too, just... let me do what I need to do... please."

Sighing, White's legs unwrap themselves from Black's waist and they prop themselves up using their elbows, then stared down at their large bruises left behind by Red not too long ago. Grumbling, White allows Black to walk away, but no before planting one last kiss to his lips and lying back against the bed again with their pale hands resting against their stomach. "Happy now?" White huffs, obviously unhappy with the lack of attention.

"Very. Now, would lie vertically on the bed instead of horizontally? I can't check your injuries efficiently without you complying with what I need you to do." Black says, using a throw-away towel to wipe off the saliva on his black suit.

"What's the magic word?" White jokes as they stare at Black grab the bag of ice.

Black locks eyes for a moment with White as he raises a brow. "Excuse me? You're the patient, now do as I say, White. We don't have time for this." 

In turn, White blinks and acts as coy as possible when they put their arms behind their head and smile. "What's the magic word, Black?"

"...Please?" He puts the stethoscope around his neck and prepares to check White's pulse, but Black was definitely hiding a smile. "Please lie vertically on the bed instead of horizontally so I can make sure nothing bad happened internally."

Finally complying, White readjusts themselves on the bed and groans from the pain in their chest. They hold their ribcage and sigh shakily as soon as they finally make themselves comfortable by lying against the pillow and closing their eyes. "Fine."

Standing beside White, Black presses the circular end of the stethoscope and starts a conversation. "You know, White, you're acting a lot differently than you did when we first started the mission." Black says, hearing White's heartbeat through the stethoscope, "At first, you were reserved and calm around everybody... even me. But now that people are getting voted and killed off left and right, you're much livelier. Why is that exactly?"

White blinks open their and wonders that too for a moment. "Maybe... it's because you showed me compassion and trustworthiness despite your potential death. Everything you've done so far was to help me... I'm grateful, of course, but I can't help but wonder why. Maybe it's because less and less people are on this ship, so I don't have to share anymore air with crewmates I could care less about. All we have to do is get rid of everyone else, find the other imposter, get rid of them-"

"Whoa, White, are you evening listening to yourself?" Black takes off their stethoscope and picks up some cream to reduce inflammation and swelling near their bruises, and takes some of it into his hand, "Even if we did get rid of the imposter, what are you and I going to do? You're going to bide your time until you get hungry again? And what about Purple's and Cyan's kids? I can't just return back to Headquarters with you and two kids... I'd be tried for murder of the entire crew, and you'd get sent to a lab to be dissected."

Sucking in a breath as the cold cream was rubbed onto their painful chest, White shrugs and laughs. "Well, even if we have a plan to escape if push comes to shove, I honestly don't think it would be a good idea to keep me around. No matter how much you love me, I-" They correct themselves, " _White_ wouldn't want me to hurt you, Black. We'll figure it out, alright? But the top priority right now is to find out who the other imposter is, get them voted out, and try to gain everyone's trust again without any bloodshed. I can eat a meat substitute such as chicken or beef for the most part, but I'll want _real_ meat eventually."

All this talk of cannibalism made Black's stomach queasy, and he made the finishing touches on the cream before setting everything off to the side. Sighing, he hands White their helmet and lets his lover zip up their spacesuit on their own, while also being mindful of the mouth. "Alright, as long as you don't do anything hard on yourself, you should be fine." Slipping on his own helmet, Black begins putting everything back into the drawers.

White's stomach-mouth growled again, and White hugged it in embarrassment while looking away, but they could tell that Black was staring at them through his helmet. "...Can we go to the cafeteria now?"

Chuckling slightly, Black grasps White's hand and finally complies as they leave Medbay. "Yes, White, let's get you fed before you eat this entire ship."

* * *

"Headquarters, this is Josie, codename Lime, do you read me? Over." Lime says, with one hand holding headphones up to her ear and one hand pressing a button to call her superiors. There was nothing but static on the other end, so with a huff, she gives it another go. "Headquarters, this is Lime, calling you from The Skeld. I have an urgent message that I would like to share with you. Over."

Orange, with her arms crossed, scoffs and looks out the door while fixing her party hat. She had to make sure no one was coming and keep Lime safe at the same time, but she wasn't having any of it. "They're not going to bother, you know. Only Captain Joe and Commander Lee have the authority to call Headquarters without permission. _You_ , on the other hand, are breaking Code #0-2971 in the Astronaut Handbook, _Never call Headquarters without the permission of higher-ups, unless it is a real distress call._ " 

Lime groans and turns around with narrowed eyes. "It is a distress call! People are dying left and right, you idiot! I'm having us get sent an escape pod so we can return to our home-planet. You want to die in a floating death trap? Be my guest, because I want to get out of here."

Spinning back around in her chair, Lime huffs and presses the button again, this time angrier. "Headquarters, this is Josie, Lime astronaut of The Skeld. I'm here with my partner, Orange. We have an urgent message we need inform you about! Answer, over!"

As if out of nowhere, static turned to words as a male began speaking on the other line. "...Lime, this is General Stevenson at Headquarters. You say you're from The Skeld? What's the message? Over." 

Orange is suddenly more intent on keeping Lime safe, so she looks down the hallways to make sure no one was coming. The coast was clear... right now anyway.

Lime lets out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness! You finally picked up... We have two imposters among us, General Stevenson! Crewmates are dying left and right... they're getting stabbed, they're getting eaten... Crewmates that are deemed suspicious are voting off and sent into space but we have no idea who the imposters really are. Please, you have to send us an escape pod so we can get off this ship, I repeat, send us an escape pod, over!" Lime is practically on the verge of tears as she begs for a means for escape.

General Stevenson doesn't respond for a moment, most likely gaining approval. 

Lime and Orange are quietly waiting for his answer back, hoping they were going to be saved. The only problem was explaining to Commander Lee and Captain Joe why a random escape pod floating up to The Skeld was going to save them.

"An escape pod will be sent directly to your location, Lime. Anyone inside will be sent back to our planet and questioned on how and why two imposters managed to hide with the crew, but I want you to know that it will take awhile until we manage to bring you home. Over." He replies, and Orange scoffs.

"Can't you save us any faster? We'll all be dead before the escape pod even shows up." Orange winces, and hopes she didn't just jinx themselves. "Just... send it _as soon as possible,_ do you hear me? Don't wait... please, we don't want to die. We've already lost so many... Didn't you get the messages from Commander Lee and Captain Joe regarding the situation? Over."

"...No, no we haven't gotten a single message regarding any murders; They kept telling us everything was okay over on your end. Over." General Stevenson replies.

Orange and Lime share a glance, with their eyes widens and mouths slightly agape. Their hearts practically skip a beat as soon as he informs them of this information, and Lime sighs. "W-We'll inform Captain Joe and Commander Lee of the situation, General. Thank you."

"Alright, kid. Godspeed. Stay safe until we come and get you, and try to keep your guard up. Once you're all back home we'll attempt to recover their bodies."

And just like that, they lost the Headquarters signal as quickly as they had it, and Orange and Lime nervously turn towards the door. As if things couldn't get any worse, Commander Lee had walked in on them talking to Headquarters, just as they were about to continue their tasks.

"...Oh, Commander Lee... A pleasure to see you..." Lime whispers, and Orange hides her friend behind her back as Commander Lee steps inside and holds her tablet close to her chest.

"Comms was sabotaged, so I came to fix it. All of our tasks got jumbled up, but I suppose you ladies are trying to fix it, I presume." She begins tapping her tablet again, but none of the tasks were displayed. "...But enough of that. You two were alerting Headquarters of the murders, weren't you?"

Orange hangs her head in shame. "W-Well yes," She tries to explain herself, but Commander Lee wasn't having any of it, "They plan on sending an escape pod which will remotely take us back to our home-planet to prevent anymore tragedy."

Commander Lee's brows furrow together and she stomps her foot in anger, prompting Lime to close her eyes. "You... idiot! Don't you understand that if Headquarters sends out an escape pod to our exact location to pick up the remaining crew, an imposter could _easily_ blend in with the rest of us and arrive on our home-planet! There could be an alien invasion, a mass murderer on the loose, someone who wants to destroy our government! Don't you realize what you've done, you insolent fool?"

If it wasn't for Orange's calm and collected personality, she would probably be crying her eyes out. Instead, however, she decides to take things into her own hands. With a heavy heart, she grasps Lime's hand and pulls her close. With her other hand, she rips off her orange helmet and throws it to the floor, and smugly grins. "That's right. I called Headquarters, Commander Lee... And they told me that you and Captain Joe didn't bother to tell them about the deaths of our friends." Orange begins to take off Lime's helmet, and presses her forehead against the other girl's head. "If it means keeping Lime safe, I'm willing to let the world burn."

Commander Lee doesn't pay attention to Orange. Instead, she looks Lime dead in the eye and taps her foot as the girl tries her best to keep from shedding a tear. "And what about you, Lime? You would be willing to put your entire planet in danger for the sake of your own life?"

Lime struggles to form the right words to say at the moment, but she does try to agree with Orange to some extent. "I've known Orange since the first day of school. We practically hit it off right away. Orange helped me out of a shell that I was trapped inside, but I'm slowly becoming less awkward. I wouldn't let the world burn, of course, since we do have to live there... But if anything happens to her due to your carelessness..." Her eyes narrow as her hand caresses Orange's cheek, "I'd die before I see her corpse on the floor of this stupid ship." 

"If that's what you want..." Commander Lee's voice was practically like honey as she spoke, but Lime and Orange immediately became nervous as a large shadowy figure appeared behind Commander Lee. She paid it no mind as she continues her sentence. "Then that's what you'll get."

"So... which one should I kill first, love?" A male's voice asks, finally showing up in the light.

It was Captain Joe... wielding a butcher knife with dried up blood. His expression was laced with danger and excitement, almost like he was ready to kill both of them if he wasn't forced to have a cooldown on his gruesome murders. 

"C-Captain Joe? You're an imposter?" Orange practically shrieks, hoping someone would hear. 

Lime presses herself closer to Orange, but Commander Lee and Captain Joe didn't seem to care

"...Get rid of Lime first. She _did_ say she'd rather die before seeing Orange sprawled out on the floor. But you should hurry, Captain Joe, an escape pod is coming to pick us up soon. How many survivors are left on the ship?" Commander Lee asks, checking the map.

"There's only eight left... But since Lime was kind enough to be my sacrifice... Now we're down to seven." Captain Joe's voice was monotone as he spoke.

A fight breaks out in the Comms room, with Commander Lee lunging towards Orange and holding her back from Lime. Commander Lee pins Orange's arms behind her back as she thrashes about in her superiors grip, screaming Lime's name and begging for mercy as she's forced onto her knees with no chance of getting up. "S-Stop, anyone but Lime! Please! K-Kill me instead, she doesn't deserve this kind of-"

Captain Joe wastes no time stabbing Lime in the chest multiple times, shoving the large blade in different places in her body that didn't have a giant, bloody wound. She barely has any time to process what just happened, but the light in her eyes went out, and before anyone knew it, she collapsed into Captain Joe's arms, soiling his yellow spacesuit. "Oh, now look what you did, Lime. Now I have to change my suit and it's all your fault." He tells her, but he just tosses her to the floor... right in front of Orange.

Time seemed to stop all around them as Lime took her final breath, clutching her wounds with bloody fingers in some pathetic attempt to stop the bleeding. 

Captain Joe wastes no time cleaning himself off, paying no mind to Lime's corpse staining the floor.

"Lime..." Orange's lip begins to quiver and tears stream down her cheek as Lime's bloody corpse meets the floor of the Comms room, and she's barely able to process that not only is Captain Joe an imposter, but Commander Lee is his crewmate turned accomplice. "You'll pay for this! I-I'll have the rest of the crew vote you off Yellow! Mark my words, I won't hesitate to-" 

"Go on, Orange. Report her body." Commander Lee commands, pushing Orange further against the floor as she sobs Lime's name. "But keep in mind that your fellow crewmates will never believe you. After all, you're just an astronaut in training while Joe and I are so much better than you... You're clinging to some kind of false hope that you'll be able to leave The Skeld alive... when in actuality, you and everyone else aren't going anywhere. All we have to do is find out who the other imposter is, and Captain Joe will be able to keep me alive... right?"

Captain Joe wipes off his spacesuit as quickly as he can with a towel he found somewhere in room, then turns to look at her with a smile hidden behind his yellow helmet. He could see the look on her face, even if she was wearing her pretty pink helmet. "Of course, love. Of course..."

"...Good. Now, time for a meeting, I suppose." Commander Lee replies, and Orange has no other choice but to report the body and be framed for the murder of her best friend.

* * *

"Little Cyan, Little Purple, how many times do I have to tell you to stay close to your mother?" Purple chuckles, and Brown follows close behind to protect his fellow crewmate and friend.

Brown could never be a step-father for Purple's kids, of course, but he could be a babysitter for the most part. 

It took a lot of convincing, and a lot of promises that will end up being broken, but Purple finally convinced Little Cyan to stop staring out the window and join their mother in completing tasks with their sibling and fellow crewmate. Unfortunately, from seeing White eat someone and witnessing their mother get ejected into outer space, Little Cyan was definitely worse for wear and didn't blindly trust anyone that wasn't their family anymore.

Brown laughs as Little Purple runs up to their mother and hugs her leg as she does the memory game, but her children grab it and poke random buttons before she has a chance to remember the pattern. The lights flash red and the green lights go away as she groans and looks down at her kids. She really didn't want to spend any more time in the Reactor as she had to, but Brown was there to protect their family, so she supposed she could take a short break.

"Mommy? Can we do this task? It looks really fun!" Little Purple asks, and Little Cyan follows close behind as they push a few more buttons.

Brown pats Purple on the back, silently telling her that she needs a break from doing so many tasks immediately after she was widowed... but the stress of it all made her less likely to respond in a way that made her kids genuinely happy. If it wasn't for Brown helping her out during this depressing time, she probably would have left everyone behind and did nothing.

So, instead of speaking to her children, Purple turned around and let Brown handle it like the babysitter he was slowly becoming. "That sounds like a great idea, guys. But remember, it's a pattern, so try to tap the buttons that correspond to the noise it makes. We'll be watching you guys to make sure you do it correctly."

Cheering, the siblings push one another towards the machine, occasionally pressing the button correctly... but they just liked the sound it made and that was it.

Brown watched Purple lean against the wall and cross her arms as she fixed the flamingo hat wrapped around her helmet, but Brown could tell that she was definitely not cut out for space travel anymore. With her children's lives on the line, as well as her own, she really had no idea who to trust if it meant survival. Brown said nothing and fixed his own hat, but he wanted to say _something_ regarding her attitude.

Tapping her foot to the beat of the pattern made by the machine, Purple sighs and looks Brown dead in the eyes, but after the death of her wife, she really didn't want to bother with tasks right about now. 

"Purple, I-" Brown tries to say, but Purple beats him to it.

"If something happens to me, will you protect my children from the imposters?" Her voice cracked as she said the word _protect_. "I don't want them to see me get hurt... especially since Little Cyan saw Green's death." Shaking her head, she looks away from Brown and tries to keep her composure in front of her kids, but she has no idea how long it will last. Especially with the fear of being killed or eaten by one of her fellow crewmates. "I know White is lying. They've been pointing fingers every single time we have a meeting... and I'm sick of it."

Brown nods and tries to agree with Purple... but he didn't want her to just give up her life for the sake of giving up. "You know that as your friend, I would do anything to keep you and your family safe but... Cyan wouldn't have wanted you to lose hope. She would want you to protect your children as best as you can and survive."

"Well, she's dead so there's nothing we can do about it." Purple snapped back a little too loudly, because Little Cyan looked up from the task and whispered to their sibling, causing Little Purple to turn around towards their mother.

"Hey," Brown whispers, wrapping her into a hug, but she doesn't hug back, "I'm here for you... If anything happens to you or me, I swear that the other crewmates would adopt Little Cyan and Little Purple as their own and keep them safe. We're all one big family."

Purple was about to argue that not everyone was kind enough to just adopt someone else's child, but Little Cyan and Little Purple came to their mother's side and held her legs, so she pat their helmets with both of her hands as she glanced at everyone. It was hard not to give up after everything she's been through, since she was so sensitive, but with a tired sigh, she replies, "Okay... Okay, I trust you, Brown."

"...Listen, Purple, I need to tell you something important regarding White-" Brown tries to say as they break apart, but an alert regarding yet another death flashed above them on the giant flat-screen monitor.

"Ah, I think it will have to wait, Brown. For now, we have to take part in another meeting." Purple grasps her kid's hands using her right and left so that both children would be either side of her, and begins taking them to the cafeteria where they can sit and play with their toys, but not take part in anything too serious. 

Following close behind, Brown grasps Little Cyan's other hand and smiles to himself as they giggle.

~~~

DEAD BODY REPORTED!

DISCUSS!

~~~

White and Black were already in the cafeteria having their meal when the three of them stormed inside with Orange being held back by Commander Lee, but Captain Joe was too busy calling everyone inside to notice that they were already there enjoying their food... well, _before_ Captain Joe and Commander Lee dragged Orange inside.

Before Orange could have a chance at defending herself, Commander Lee poked and prodded at her tablet's screen and voted her off almost immediately with Captain Joe following suit, but they still needed everyone else's approval. He had the bloody rag stashed away in his pocket, hopeful to use it during the meeting to frame Orange for Lime's murder.

Orange had something stuffed inside her mouth so she couldn't make any accusations towards Captain Joe, but White could smell blood just as easily as they could sense it. There was little to no blood on Orange... but Captain Joe's yellow suit was _full_ of it. He noticed Black poking at his freeze-dried slop with his plastic spoon, and he smiled while walking over. Apparently White was finished so all they did was watch Black eat their fill.

"Ah! White and Black... it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Captain Joe says, taking a good, long look at White's empty plate. The plate was seemingly licked clean and a strange liquid covered the cup of water, and that too was empty. "I don't suppose you could join us for the meeting?" He offers his hand towards the table with the emergency button, but Orange evades eye contact.

Black swallows some of his food and looks up at Captain Joe with an awkward grin, but White is staring at Orange like they knew something was wrong. 

"Oh, well, yeah... But I wanted to finish eating first so-" Black begins to say, but Captain Joe rips the food away from Black and puts on a fake smile. 

"It wasn't a suggestion, Black... and... White..." Captain Joe caresses White's helmet, making the poor astronaut to jump in fear as a yellow glove suddenly touched the helmet, "I hope you're alright now? Red isn't going to come back any time soon, I can assure you."

Black helps White stand to their feet and holds them close while walking to the cafeteria table. "What happened to Lime?"

Before Captain Joe could answer his question, Purple and Brown run inside the cafeteria with Purple's children trailing behind, and she takes them to their play area. "Sorry for the wait, sir," Purple says, giving her kids their toys, "We had to finish a few more tasks."

Commander Lee got herself seated and began the meeting as Captain Joe walked back to the cafeteria table, but didn't hold Orange now that her arms were tied behind her back. "Lime called Headquarters in the hopes of sending an escape pod to The Skeld. Unfortunately for Lime, she was successful in calling General Stevenson, but _Orange_ stabbed her in cold blood... which led to her demise. I'm sorry everyone, but Orange was standing over the body. We should vote for her and get this over with."

Orange shook her head and began to cry again, but she knew it was no use when Captain Joe had so much "evidence" he could frame her with. "Here," He pulls out the bloody towel and drops it onto the table, making sure everyone could see it, "This is the towel Orange used to clean herself off with after she stabbed Lime in Comms. She wanted to make sure that an escape pod was actually going to be sent to The Skeld before she killed Lime..."

White tilts their head to the side as Brown slams his hands against the table and stands to his feet, then yells at his superiors, "Orange and Lime were together this entire time! If Orange wanted to kill Lime, she would have done it a long time ago! Not when Lime called for an escape pod... White, can't you tell something isn't adding up?"

Black holds White's hand as their partner was suddenly made the center of attention, but Purple stays silent as they all waited for what they had to say.

"Well, I think-" White begins to say, but Commander Lee cuts them off. 

"White and Black were in Medbay this entire time, so there's no way they could have known what happened when Orange and Lime were alone. After all, you, Black, Orange, and Lime found Blue's dead body... You found Green's dead body-"

Captain Joe pats her on the back and whispers, "I think they get it, Commander Lee." in her ear, while trailing his hand down her back. He takes matters into his own hands by strutting towards the airlock and inputting the code to eject Orange into space. "Just vote for her, and we can get this over with. And remember everyone, an escape pod is coming to bring us home soon, so only trust the people you know are your friends."

Purple and Brown vote for Orange with a regretful look in their eyes, but Black and White skip this round. They don't know who to trust, so they didn't want to pick a side.

Commander Lee wastes no time forcing Orange to her feet as she thrashes and screams in her grip, making Little Cyan and Little Purple shrink back and hide against their own table, and Brown comes to their aid by acting like their uncle and their babysitter.

Black comes to his feet to try and stop Commander Lee and Captain Joe from going through a meeting so quickly, but it was too late. Without any hesitation, Commander Lee pushes Orange out into the vastness of space with her mouth opening and closing in fear.

Struggling with the bonds around her wrists, she kicks and thrashes around in some feeble attempt to find a way back into the ship... to do anything. She catches a glimpse of the planet underneath her as she continues spinning, but there was no way of correcting herself while tied up like this.

"Lime..." She croaks out as the fabric shielding her mouth falls off, leading to the inability to breathe worsen, and her lungs tighten. "It hurts.. so much." Black dots obscure her vision as she watches The Skeld move further and further away. For a moment, she catches a glimpse of... Red's pale corpse floating right beside her, frozen in time from being launched into space. Without another word, she closes her eyes and lets the cold overtake her.

Meanwhile, in The Skeld, doing more ridiculous tasks instead of bothering with this ejection wasn't something anyone had on their minds anymore. 

Black and White offer their condolences by saluting their brave crewmate, but Commander Lee and Captain Joe didn't want to bother with any honor. 

Looking up towards the big flat screen monitor, Purple's heart begins to sink and the text read, " **Orange was not The Imposter. (2 Imposters Remain)** ".

By now, they were killing each other for sport, and yet another innocent woman was ejected from The Skeld with little to no evidence.

Everyone turns to look at Captain Joe and Commander Lee to see what they should do next, but they were already out of the cafeteria, and just like that, the reactor began blaring among the ship, alerting the crewmates that in just a few second, a meltdown was going to occur. Purple, Brown, White, and Black all shared a worried glance as they realized that their Captain wasn't who they thought they were.

The only problem was voting them off the ship without the remaining crew becoming suspicious of White in the process.


	4. 6 Crewmates Remain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whatever's left of the crew has to stop the reactor core from melting down, and White eats someone else. Commander Lee walks in at a bad time and she and Black have a talk while Brown comforts the kids.

It took every fiber of Purple's being not to curl up into a little ball and start crying as the blaring sound of the horn alerted the other crewmates of the reactor core's potential meltdown. She held her children close to her as Brown tried to snap her out of whatever spell she was under by shaking her shoulder, but considering the circumstances, it was no wonder she was so terrified. 

Every ounce of Purple's reserve was needed to not just grab her children, cradle them, and tell them to hang on until she could fix everything. She saw their hesitation, almost as if they didn’t trust her, but they rested their heads on her arms in some silent display of affection. She knew what she had to do, of course. Two people would need to place their hands against the scanners at the same time to prevent the entire ship from exploding... but Captain Joe and Commander Lee were hiding somewhere in the ship and waiting to strike on the remaining crewmates.

Captain Joe, a man who she and everyone else thought they could trust, was an _imposter_. Commander Lee wasn't an imposter... was she? Would that explain why the two of them are always together? Murdering off crewmates left and right? No... _no,_ White voted Purple's wife out of The Skeld. They could have prevented Cyan's death and they did nothing but save their own skin. It must be White... It has to be. Purple thought Black was her friend; after all, they grew up together in the Training Center for Future Astronauts. 

White is using Black as a decoy... an accomplice, just like their Yellow captain was using his Pink commander to do their bidding. Once they were no longer useful, the imposters would dispose of them. She knew better than to buy into White's little game, that she knew. But not only did she have to protect her children, she had to protect Brown, Black, and whoever was the crewmate alongside the imposter. They were the only crewmates _alive_ that could return back to their home-planet and not face any major consequences.

"Guys, come on," Black beckoned with his arm to go to the reactor and shut it off, "If we don't do this, we all die! We'll stay together as a group, that way Commander Lee and Captain Joe don't attack us." Beginning to run down the corridor leading to the reactor just out of the cafeteria and down the hall, Black was about to act as their leader in the hopes of keeping everyone safe, but White held their arm close and wouldn't let their lover leave.

"...White? What are you doing? The imposter could pop out of a vent at any moment! We have to go now and turn off the reactor before it's too late. We'll all be fine-"

White shakes their head and holds Black close again as they bury their head into Black's shoulder. "Let me go first, Black. We'll hold on to each other like a straight line... That way we're like a group. Captain Joe or Commander Lee won't be able to take us on all at once.

If it wasn't for Black's ability to hear so well, he probably wouldn't have been able to decipher what White kept mumbling. "Yeah, we can try that..." Making contact with Brown and Purple, he ushers them over to White, who was more than willing to lead the rest of the 

"Purple! Grab onto Black's shoulder." She hesitates as White commands her to hold onto something other than her child's hand, "Listen, I know you don't trust me, but if you don't come with us, the reactor could explode at any moment or you could get stabbed! Your kids wouldn't want this! We don't have time for this!"

The horn of the reactor continued to blare in the empty hallways of The Skeld, where their 45 seconds slowly turned into 30 seconds, forcing the remaining group to think fast. 

As soon as she realized that she was endangering her children's lives, Purple holds Black's shoulders and makes Little Purple and Little Cyan hold on to her pant-legs so they don't get lost. "Fine!" Purple says, and Brown puts their arms on her shoulders as well. 

"All we have to do is hold our hands against the screen and it should stop!" Brown says over the horn as everyone begins running towards the reactor in the hopes of shutting it off and figuring out which one was the imposter out of Captain Joe and Commander Lee.

"It's obviously a trap though..." Black replies back, holding onto White's shoulders as they follow them. "Everyone be on your guard while we run down the hallway. Stay in your groups once we arrive!"

Their heavy boots clanked against the hard metal floor of The Skeld as they continuing running, only for the horn to blare even louder as they reached the source of the alarm and the horrible honking noise it made that wanted them to cover their ears, despite wearing a helmet. Captain Joe and Commander Lee were nowhere near the reactor, so there was a possibility that one of them was hiding in the vents. The remaining crew had to act fast before they are stabbed or eaten by an unknown imposter, so they did exactly that without a moment's hesitation.

Brown let go of Purple's shoulder and sprinted towards the hand sensor and pressed it, prompting the message **Reactor Core Meltdown (1/2)** to show up on the screen not too far above it. White kept Purple safe as soon as Black made his way to the other side, and pressed his hand against the sensor, the the (1/2) turned into a (2/2) as they held their hands there for a few seconds to shut it off. The horn stopped blaring and the blinking lights ceased and returned to their former state, so everyone turned around and made absolutely certain to keep an eye out for Commander Lee and Captain Joe.

One wrong move and the entire ship would have blown to smithereens regardless of the remaining crewmates or imposters, so when they realized that everyone was alright, they simultaneously breathed a victorious sigh of relief.

Purple held her children close and Brown walked back over to her with a proud walk, but as Black came over to White, he noticed that they were clutching their stomach in agony... almost like it was hungry all over again. "Oh no... White, listen to me, it's over now! The reactor is no longer malfunctioning."

Black quickens his pace as soon as he witnesses the razor sharp tongue poke out of the mouth, almost like the reactor core's horn made it angry enough to go feral. White wasn't listening to Black, even while Purple and Brown were keeping an eye on the door and vents to make sure no one jumped out and attacked. The stomach-mouth growled and began opening and closing despite the sound finally being put to rest, but Black's fears finally came true as White shoved Black away with a snarl.

White involuntarily twitched and tried to hide their fears, but they couldn't protect Black. Not like this.

"White? Hey, what's wrong? We're fine now, we just have to host an emergency meeting and vote one of them out." Purple reassures White, a little too happy for her own good. "...White? Come on, breathe in and out slowly. This isn't the time to have a panic attack."

Black tries to take a step forwards, but he had to keep an eye on the vents. Why did this have to happen now? Why couldn't White wait? White was supposed to be normal, weren't they?

Beginning to tap them on the shoulder to get their attention, Purple tries to calm White down. That was her undoing... and a major mistake. "White?" Purple asks, concerned. "Black? Could you help them out?"

As Brown was taking care of Little Cyan and Little Purple, White ever so slowly turned around and made absolutely sure to intensely stare her down as the stomach-mouth began to open yet again to prepare for another meal. Just like before, White's back began to break backwards, revealing the razor sharp teeth and tongue used for killing their victims. The cracking of bones and muscles all made White groan and roll their eyes back as the overwhelming pain overtook them, but... they had to eat. The horn was so overwhelming that the parasite was acting on its own volition. 

"Mommy!" Little Purple quivers in fear as White wastes no time letting their hunger overtake them, and the spear-like tongue shot directly into Purple's space helmet and poked out through the other side, shocking Brown to the point of picking up the children and walking backwards, but not out of the room. He wasn't stupid enough to run off knowing that Captain Joe and Commander Lee were hiding somewhere in the shadows.

"White! No!" Black shrieks, trying to pull White away from Purple as the mouth begins chewing and gnawing on her flesh and bones. Despite the helmet and the spacesuit getting in the way, White was too busy mumbling to themselves while getting the real food they needed to sustain their parasitic desires. "I know you're hungry, but you just ate Purple in front of her kids!" Black and White make eye contact with Little Cyan and Little Purple, who were awestruck.

"You knew about this and you didn't try to vote White out of The Skeld?!" Brown demands, hiding the children behind his legs. "All this bloodshed could have been avoided if it wasn't for your stupidity!"

"I know that, Brown! I-I... I loved them too much to let them go. A parasite crawled into their ear on the Polus Outpost and turned them into this monster... I'm so sorry." Black holds White tighter as he begins to sob. "I'm sorry..." He had no idea if he was apologizing to Brown or White... but it might have been both.

Brown doesn't reply as White's stomach-mouth continues taking large chunks out of Purple and swallowing them whole. Blood stained the metal floor as White's stomach-mouth continued feasting on Purple's corpse, which was becoming gnarled and covered in deep bite marks from the teeth and tongue ripping her limbs apart from the muscles. 

"...Wow, so that's how a parasite eats." Commander Lee whispers to herself, making everyone turn their heads. "Everyone, I've come to-"

Brown backs away just as Little Purple and Little Cyan sprint to Black's and White's side. "Are you here to stab us so you can win?" Brown demands, putting his hands up defensively.

As Commander Lee steps inside and ignores Brown's question, she takes a good long look at how White manages to eat their food to the point where the bone sticks out of the torso. Standing above the body of her purple crewmate, she begins a conversation as she inspects the mouth continuing to eat. "I know you're all suspicious of me, but... I'm not the imposter. I'm protecting Captain Joe, much like Black is protecting White... Hm, you said this was a parasitic alien, right, Black?" 

"S-Sure... He got infected on the Polus Outpost after we spent a few months there." Black explained, and he had an arm pressed against Little Purple as they continued hiding. Little Cyan was also curious of White, but they both knew White wasn't paying attention to the kids.

Taking a pen out of her pocket, she holds it up to the saliva and allows it to drip onto the pen, then lifts it up to inspect it like a scientist would. "...Ah. I see... The saliva secrets a type of resin material that keeps the body fresh, almost like the alien tries to protect the oxygen and nutrients locked inside the mound of flesh it intakes." Throwing the pen aside, Commander Lee continues her observations, but she makes eye contact with White and frowns. "...It's quite interesting how loosening the lid on that cage would have caused White's demise."

Black's eyes widen and his brows furrow together as his superior says something without thinking. "What... cage? Commander Lee, you better not be telling me what I think you're telling me." He was so furious that White could _sense_ it, leading to the tongue lapping at Commander Lee's arm.

Pushing the tongue away with a sigh, Commander Lee walks around the room and makes sure Captain Joe wasn't around to hear her speak. "Our crew was supposed to take that parasite to Headquarters to be dissected... in the name of science. It's an alien lifeform... it was _alive_. I couldn't allow it to die just like that. It could have had a family... we arrived on its planet and put their kind in cages, ready to be sent back home where they would die. So, I loosened the lid just before I left so it could escape. I just didn't expect you two to enter the Specimen Room to sort specimens."

"You valued the life of an alien more than my goddamn boyfriend?!" Black exclaimed, tears beginning to streaming down his cheeks once he realized this whole situation could have been avoided if Commander Lee hadn't loosened the lid. "I had to resuscitate him in that Specimen Room after that alien crawled into his ear! White's a monster now and it's all your fault! He... _They_ " Black hesitates, "They're constantly in agony and you don't care?"

"It was in the name of science, Black. Astronauts like yourselves are easily expendable." Commander Lee looks down at Little Cyan and Little Purple and smiles as she tilts her head to the side. "Children are more than happy to go into outer space since they can learn how to behave. Adults like us lose momentum from being up here so long. It was bound to happen eventually, especially with all our new scientific discoveries. It's a real shame too... but Captain Joe matters more to me than anyone on this ship ever could."

Brown steps in between Black, White, and Pink to shove her away, but the blood still stained her boots. "You're _sick_. Even if you thought this was in the name of science, all of our friends are dead and Little Cyan and Little Purple have been orphaned due to your negligence. Don't you have any regrets?"

"...They were never my friends in the first place. Captain Joe still needs my help in returning White to Headquarters so they can dissect him and see what the alien does to the human body."

"You're not going to lay a finger on White, Commander Lee!" Black exclaims, just as White is broken out of whatever trance they were under from the reactor's horn. 

"Oh... well, look who we have here." Captain Joe whispers as he walks in on Commander Lee standing over Purple's corpse, her pink boots stained with crimson blood. Despite the fact that White was right beside her, still on their high from tasting human blood, Captain Joe took it upon himself to grab her neck, and force her to look him in the eyes.

Commander Lee struggled, of course, where she made noises and pushed him away, but there was a peculiar aura about him... It scared her. 

Black held White close as they mumbled apologizes under their breath, but the stomach-mouth couldn't be contained any longer. The tongue was lapping up any meat and blood stuck between its teeth and growled when it wanted more of Purple's flesh.

Captain Joe wastes no time reporting the body, and a meeting occurs in the cafeteria.

~~~

DEAD BODY REPORTED!

DISCUSS!

~~~

Unlike before, where everyone piled into the room without a care in the world to discuss who might have murdered their fellow crewmate, Black, White, Brown, Captain Joe, and Commander Lee all stepped into the cafeteria with narrowed eyes and careful steps, almost like they would have murdered each other right then and there without any hesitation in the name of victory. They all sat in their usual seats, only this time, Black and White sat together, Brown was alone, and Captain Joe and Commander Lee was on the other side, but they were standing.

"...Isn't it obvious to everyone else? Or am I just stupid?" Captain Joe asks, walking around the cafeteria table and taking a good _long_ look at Black's suspiciously overprotective attitude towards White. "Why else would Black and White run from Green's corpse in Medbay, leading to Cyan being right all along despite being ejected?"

Brown cringed at the thought of Cyan thrashing in Commander Lee's grip as she was ejected into space, but stayed quiet. Purple's poor kids had no one else to turn to, but they trusted Black and White just enough to seek comfort from them both, despite everything that went down in the Reactor room. The memory of the tongue sticking out of Purple's helmet was enough to make Brown cringe, and his stomach ached.

"Why would else Little Cyan avoid White after everything that went down?" Captain Joe pat the child on their helmet, but Little Cyan immediately shoved their hands away and held Black's waist even tighter. Little Purple, on the other hand, tried to protect White by using their body as a shield against the Captain. It was a bold move, and White was more than thankful.

Captain Joe leans against Brown's spacesuit and brushes off some dust lingering on his shoulder, then continues speaking, "...And why would Red lunge at White, knowing full well we were holding a meeting to eject someone? All of our crewmates put their lives on the line to vote White off The Skeld. If it wasn't for White, Little Cyan and Little Purple would have a family." His gaze locks on the children, but he begins scanning the room again, "Brown wouldn't have had to see Blue's corpse in Electrical, and Commander Lee..." Captain Joe hesitates.

Commander Lee straightens her back as he says her name, and she nervously readjusts her goggles atop her helmet. "Sir...?"

"...You seem to have a lot of fun ejecting your friends out of this floating death trap, don't you? You don't even hesitate to listen to my commands, because you're just so loyal. You vote, and you see them on their merry way, only to discover that they weren't the imposter. Victory seems so close, and yet... oh so far." Captain Joe laughs and Commander Lee's chest rises and falls.

"I haven't the faintest idea as to what you're talking about, Captain Joe..." White practically mumbles, evading eye contact with their superior. Instead, their gaze is dead-set on Black with lidded eyes, but their heartbeat was rapidly increasing by the second. One wrong move and everyone would be voting them off, and Black's lover would be ejected into outer-space. 

Commander Lee blushes as Captain Joe gives her a pat on the shoulder.

"Imposters have to stick together," Lifting up Commander Lee's pink helmet with his hand to force her to meet his solemn gaze, then tilts his head to the side, "You and Lee planned this little charade from the start, didn't you? White ate Green, and now... White ate Purple. It's a shame Brown had to see that. I just didn't expect my lover to be in on this." 

Black was about to intervene, but Brown held him back as Commander Lee comes to her feet and shoves him away with a fury the likes of which no one had ever seen.

"You can't be serious, Joe! I-I followed your orders without hesitation! Orange and Lime deliberately told them that you refused to send any messages to Headquarters." Commander Lee tries to explain, but Captain Joe was too busy walking over to the airlock to vote her off himself.

"Captain Joe- Please, I... I love you! I wanted to return home with you and leave space travel behind." She grasps one of his hands as he continues inputting the password, " _I don't want to die!_ " Commander Lee shrieks, her heart continuing to beat.

"...None of that matters to me." Captain Joe says, not making eye contact. Instead, Captain Joe tears her away and allows the ship to get rid of her once and for all.

The first thing Commander Lee felt when she was ejected out of The Skeld was the unwelcoming cold that enveloped her senses.

The second Commander Lee was ejected out of The Skeld and into the atmosphere-less vacuum that was outer-space, she tried everything in her power to prevent the air from leaving her spacesuit.

She tried as best as she could to reach her arm out towards Captain Joe as the air-lock doors shut and locked once more, and for a second, she tried to scream his name as she hyperventilated. Thrashing her legs around, she tried to kick her way back to him, her _lover,_ the man who she thought she could trust... but all he did was narrow his eyes and turn his back on her with a disappointed sneer.

"No..." She softly whispers, the tear-drops floating away from her eyes and hitting the visor of her spacesuit. "J-Joe... Please-" Commander Lee blinks and tries to look around for a way to prevent her suffocation, but she knew it was no use. Rule number one of space travel: there's no air. 

Little particles danced in her vision as her throat began to close and her tears ceased to fall, but her lip quivered and her hands tried to grasp at her helmet. This claustrophobia was terrifyingly lonely, and she now knew just how her other crewmates felt when they suffocated in outer space. 

Her vast knowledge of how long it takes for a human body to die in these cold and traumatic conditions made her mind run a million miles a minute with scenarios of her drifting off into a deep sleep with no hassle at all, or she passes out due to shock, or her body freezes from the inside out, but her heart was frantically beating out of her chest to provide a stable flow of blood... But she had to do _something_. All those wasted years studying on how to be an astronaut needed to mean something in the end... Her death was in vain. 

Lee wanted to live with Joe on their home-planet, they could have raised a few kids, and grow old together. That was what she dreamed of, anyway. 

But nothing could have prepared her for the betrayal of her life, where her own lover got rid of her to save his own skin. Commander Lee always knew something was wrong with Captain Joe, but she had no idea White was a parasitic alien hell-bent on eating everyone on the ship. And poor Purple was murdered, leaving both Little Cyan and Little Purple orphaned and mother-less.

Now, Captain Joe, White, Black, and Brown were the only ones left on that floating death trap, and here was Commander Lee, slowly dying with every passing breath. Hugging herself close to preserve body heat, she closes her eyes and allows her chest to rise and fall much more slowly than before.

If the rest of her crew dies for voting her off... it serves them right. She was better than them anyway.

It took a lot of courage to stay alive this long, but Commander Lee takes her final breath as her body continues floating around the ship just like all the others.

**Commander Lee was not An Imposter. (2 Imposters Remain).**

Little Cyan and Little Purple didn't know what to do, so they stared out the window until the escape pod finally arrived. They would no longer be able to set foot in such a horrible ship after what happened here, but they still had each other. The only question is whether or not they'll remain with the victorious crewmates or the victorious imposters, but only time will tell once they get adopted by either side.

"I can't believe how stupid you all are." Captain Joe says, turned around as Commander Lee dies. "Lying through my teeth is so easy... and you're all so blind that you follow me without another word. White and I are the imposters, not Commander Lee!" Pointing his thumb at the window, Captain Joe begins laughing as he realizes that tricking his crew wasn't difficult at all. "I'm the one who killed Lime and Blue, and the rest of you voted one another off like flies to the flame. You know, I really must thank you all, really. If it wasn't for all of our dead friends, I wouldn't be able to return to our home-planet with a parasitic alien."

Brown hugs himself close, almost like he _knew_ something was up with Captain Joe from the beginning, but he didn't bother to figure out what it was. "Y-You mean... The sound of the squeaking vent in Electrical was caused by you? Not her?"

"Of course not, she was a regular crewmate just like everybody else following my orders because I'm captain. But, I would have liked White to eat her quickly rather than slowly out in space. A shame really." 

"She loved you, Captain Joe!" Black exclaimed, startling the little astronauts. "Did you care more about fame and fortune than the safety of your own girlfriend?"

"How about you, Black? Do you care about White, even if they're an imposter? And Brown, my friend, I'm so sorry that you have to be caught up in this whole charade. You probably just wanted to go on a mission and return home, but you're trapped here with a genocidal maniac and an alien wearing human skin."

White's heart begins to sink as Captain Joe put his hand on his shoulder, urging the skin-wearing parasite to look up at their superior in fear. "Sir-" White begins to say, but Captain Joe cuts them off.

"...So, who did you want to kill first? Brown?" Captain Joe points, leaning in a little too close for White's comfort, "Or... Black? If we kill them both, we win, and they have to accept defeat."

White's gaze is locked on Black, who's expression was laced with shock and fear once he realized Captain Joe lied and tricked his way into staying alive this long. He whispers softly, "White... Please."

"B-Black-" Little Cyan begins to say, not really understanding the situation at hand. Little Purple shushes their sibling by make a noise with their mouth.

Gulping, White looks up at Captain Joe, and their stomach-mouth began opening and closing in suspense once it realized it was allowed to eat someone, even if they ate Purple not too long ago. The more meat the alien consumes, the more human they become. The tongue flicks around like a snake as White's back begins to break to open the mouth as wide as possible, displaying the large array of teeth that was covered in dried blood from Green's death. Once more, White felt little to no pain as his flesh flung back, revealing even more of the razor-sharp teeth used for ripping the flesh off the bone. "I-I choose..."

The tongue gets tired of waiting and acts on impulse, and launches itself into the air like a spear as a shriek echoes in the bowels of The Skeld.


	5. 4 Crewmates Remain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two imposters and one crewmate remain. Captain Joe and White end up having a fight, and the ability to hold another emergency meeting takes another 50 seconds. Until then, the three surviving astronauts have no way of voting each other off. Also, a flashback to the day of their graduation, where everyone's real names are revealed.

Blood spilled against the cafeteria floor as soon as White's tongue struck through Brown's visor on his helmet, just inches away from Black, Little Cyan, and Little Purple. Black's eyes widened as some saliva dripped down onto his leg, to which he quickly brushed it away before it caused any damage or hardened against his spacesuit. Considering the sharp end of the tongue was just inches away from Black's face, White's pupil dilated in fear as soon as Black moved his head back.

Black had no idea why White would even bother listening to Captain Joe at this point, especially after everything he's done to his crew and his own girlfriend for fame and fortune back on their home-planet. But it wasn't White's fault... the parasite was still hungry and reacted out of fear.

Killing Brown was better than killing Black, anyways... No matter how painful it must have felt for him. However, White didn't eat him for too long. He was highly alert as the stomach-mouth continued tearing into Brown's meaty flesh, but Captain Joe took this opportunity to inspect how White's eating habits really worked, much like Commander Lee did in the Reactor room. "Extraterrestrials are truly incredible, don't you think, Black? If we hadn't set foot on the The Polus Outpost, maybe this never would have happened. And I wouldn't be returning with a scientific breakthrough."

Black's mouth curled into a sneer as Captain Joe tried to make decent conversation, but White was messily eating Brown, so he didn't feel like talking. Instead, Black covered the children's eyes and tried to tell his superior, "If it wasn't for Commander Lee, we wouldn't have been in this mess, and you wouldn't be killing everybody off to keep that parasite inside White a secret. I can't believe money matters to you more than your own friends!"

"...Money can buy friends in high places, _Jasper_. Think before you speak, unless you want to end up like the rest of this bloody ship... or in the bowels of White's stomach. Aw, it's a shame Brown had to die, but he got in the way." Captain Joe harshly snapped back, paying no mind to the blood beginning to stain his yellow suit as it leaked out of White's mouth like a faucet. "...You're getting in the way as well."

The stomach-mouth tried everything in its power to drag Brown's body into the salivating mess of teeth that was finally going to be satisfied from the ability to _finally_ have a full meal since attending The Skeld, but due to eating so many people, White wasn't going to be starving for a long time. The only problem was surviving long enough to escape with Black, Little Cyan, and Little Purple... and hopefully leave their planet behind and go to a different one, then start a new life there amongst other people.

White, or, the parasite possessing White, had little to no idea as to how a family works, but one thing was for certain: White wasn't going to let Captain Joe kill Black or their kids. They were a family now, and White was determined to vote out Captain Joe however possible... but there was just one problem. A very _big_ problem at that.

There was a timer on the Emergency Meeting button affixed to the cafeteria table, which was at 50 seconds and counting down, so despite the fact that there were three of them left on The Skeld, someone had made the mistake of pressing the Emergency Meeting button instead of reporting the body like you're supposed to, leading to White and Black being unable to vote Captain Joe out just yet. All they had to do for the next few seconds was make sure Black didn't die due to White's negligence, so it shouldn't be too hard... right?

As soon as White had finished eating, their back snapped back into place and they could finally process the damage dealt to Brown's corpse. Brown, or whatever was left of him, was a sight for sore eyes to say the least. Just like White's other victims, only the legs and spine remained, but from the looks of it, White was biting the corpse in anger whenever Captain Joe caressed their spacesuit or angrily spoke to Black. All they could do was regretfully stare down at the mound of bloody flesh and interlock their fingers together in shame.

White realized that they didn't have to do as Captain Joe said... in fact they didn't even want to. The parasite had a primal urge to attack someone the very second it had the ability to do so, but due to their actions, another crewmate is dead and gone. Now, the only one that mattered was Black, and nothing is going to hurt him. White was sure of it. 

"Jasper..." White whispers, just as Captain Joe gets out his knife and creeps towards Black and the kids, "Take the kids and run! Hurry before it's too late! I'll fend him off for now, but you need to go! Please, protect our kids for me. Once the timer cools down, I'll make sure to press it and we can all eject Captain Joe together!"

"B-But... what about you? Don't tell me you're going to fight him-" Black begins to say, but White growls to themselves in anger.

Before Black could even argue about White's safety, they lunge towards Captain Joe and knock the knife straight out of his hands as they crash to the floor. The tongue in their stomach poked out of their mouth and proceeded to poke little holes into their yellow suit, but considering they were both imposters, they couldn't do much damage.

Captain Joe struggled to get up and felt oxygen seeping out of his suit, to which he immediately clenches his teeth together and tries to reach his arm out to grab the knife that was just inches away. "No... I can't lose to a stupid parasite! I'm going to return to our home-planet," Captain Joe laughs as soon as he grabs the handle of the knife, then swipes it behind him, "And have you dissected you miserable little cannibal!" The knife scraped against White's tongue, leading to the tongue retreating back into White's stomach mouth from the pain.

White fell back from the intense sensation of practically getting stabbed, but their gaze fell onto Black, who was still holding the children close. If it wasn't for White's sudden determination, Captain Joe would have managed to stab the knife directly through their visor, but they rolled off to the side just as Captain Joe began hacking and slashing at White's suit. Halfheartedly mouthing the word, "Go." to Black, White proceeded to unleash dozens of pink tendrils from his stomach-mouth and let out a war cry as they grabbed at Captain Joe and his deflated yellow spacesuit in anger.

"O-Okay... I trust you, Lio! Come on kids, let's go before we get hurt." Black says, beginning to run south and out of the cafeteria with the purple and cyan astronauts trailing right behind him. He doesn't dare look back, only forward, as White and Captain Joe's pained voices echoed in the cafeteria of The Skeld.

* * *

On a clear summer day, just before The Skeld's launch to The Polus Outpost, 12 students of the Training Center for Future Astronauts stood in a line, facing their elderly principal in preparation to receive their gifts for their triumphs.

"Your dedication to space travel brought you all here today, and for that I say; congratulations, our graduating class of 21XX. I cannot be anymore proud of you during this incredible moment. Yourself and your peers will be taking part in a special mission at the Polus Outpost in just a few days and use what you've learned here at the Training Center for Future Astronauts, and will bring home specimens of incredible origin... and be paid handsomely for it." Principal Rinona of the school announced towards the to-be astronauts, with a smile gracing her elderly features as everyone cheered for the graduates. "Now, I shall provide them with their badges, helmets, and diplomas as a gift for their constant desire to learn, and the successes they've made since attending so long ago."

Principal Rinona began with Joe first, who was clad in his yellow spacesuit much like everyone else. There, situated on a cart, was his helmet, his badge, and his diploma. As soon as he shook hands with her, he straightened his back and tried to be as elegant as possible as she began to speak while putting the badge onto his suit. "Joe, out of all my students I never expected someone as smart as you to ace every single class, regardless of difficulty. You're a shining light on our school, and I'm proud to call you Captain of this mission. Just make sure to treat Lee kindly, alright?"

Holding the yellow helmet close to his chest, Joe's smile widens as soon as he realizes that he's going to be _Captain_ of The Skeld, something he's always dreamed of his entire life. Clearing his throat, he bows to his superior and closes his eyes. "Thank you so very much for providing me the opportunity to further progress my knowledge of outer space. You won't be dissapointed, I assure you, Principal Rinona."

As the principal takes another set of gifts, this time a pink helmet, she stops in front of Lee, who awkwardly twiddles her hands together as soon as her superior makes eye contact and ties the badge to her pink suit. "Lee, my granddaughter, I'm so proud of you for making it this far in the scientific field. Your vast knowledge of alien planets and lifeforms tie into this mission, and I have the honor of calling you _Commander_ of The Skeld, alongside Joe. You two will be taking care of this ship and your crew, and in doing so, providing the school with even more information."

Taking the helmet from her grandmother, Lee's eyes become glassy as Rinona caresses her cheek with her hand, giving Lee the opportunity to speak without crying on the spot due to how nervous and and enthusiastic she was. "Nana- Oh, um..." Lee chuckles, just as Joe's gloved hand wraps around her own in some silent correction to her mistake, "Thank you so very much for providing me the opportunity to further progress my knowledge of outer space. I will try my hardest."

The principal picks up a red helmet, a diploma, and a badge, then walks over to Jeremy. In turn, Jeremy keeps his hands held out to take the helmet, but he already forgot that Principal Rinona was supposed to attach the badge to the suit, so he promptly put his hands at his side and blushed a little bit as she began speaking. "Jeremy, as thanks for lending a hand in numerous experiments, I present to you your diploma, your badge, and your helmet. Congratulations on being apart of the crew."

Jeremy takes the helmet and brushes off some dirt that managed to stain the visor, to which he bows just like Joe and Lee did. "Thank you so very much for providing me the opportunity to further progress my knowledge of outer space. I'll be a great astronaut in the name of this school and The Skeld."

Yet again, Principal Rinona flashes him a smile and proceeds to Rio, the non-binary student wearing a blue spacesuit. Their hair covered their eyes a little bit, but they were still more than happy to stare their principal in the eyes as she attached the badge to their suit. "Rio, knowing how much you love to drive rovers and make a mess of things, I know all the extraterrestrials will run the other direction when they see you coming," She chuckles, then hands them the blue helmet as they tilt their head to the side, "But, I know that you're determined to help out your fellow astronauts."

Bowing and immediately putting on their blue helmet, Rio's voice comes out muffled and quiet, but they say what they want to say nonetheless while squeezing their diploma tighter. "Thank you so very much for providing me the opportunity to further progress my knowledge of outer space. I won't let anyone down... But I'll still take rovers for joyrides."

Next, the principal picks up a Brown helmet, then proceeds to make Riker stand up straight by flicking her index finger upwards. Riker only continued to slouch, just by a bit, especially since he wasn't very excited about being out in the sun wearing an uncomfortable brown spacesuit. She attaches the badge to his suit, which he looks at, but wasn't smiling like everyone else. It was practically a miracle that he even graduated in the first place. "Riker, much to my surprise you managed to pulled through and completed your assignments and tests to the best of your ability. You have my respect."

"Hmph," Riker managed to get out as he was given his brown helmet and his diploma. He could only stare at them both, especially since he was calm on the outside, and absolutely freaking out on the inside. All those years of work really were for something. "Thank you... so very much for providing me the opportunity to further progress my knowledge of outer space. I'll treasure these items..."

After Riker came Ferdinand, so she picks up the green helmet and attaches the badge to his green spacesuit as he saluted to his principal. Laughing, Principal Rinona salutes back, then continues the ceremony. "Ferdinand, my boy, I cannot express my gratitude enough for someone like you. Tutoring the younger students in your free time, adjusting the machinery in the simulation rooms... You've done so much for us and your friends. For that, I must express my gratitude by saluting you as well."

Ferdinand almost drops the helmet after Principal Rinona tells him her speech, and he begins opening the diploma using his fingers as he replies, "It's the least I can do for the newest additions to our humble school. Thank you so very much for providing me the opportunity to further progress my knowledge of outer space. We'll make you proud."

Taking an orange helmet into her hands, the principal proceeds to smile as Liza sighs and blinks. She's fumbling with her orange spacesuit as Principal Rinona attaches the badge to her suit and unruffling some creases here and there, then begins to say her speech. "Ah, Liza. You were always a class clown, weren't you? A friend to students and teachers alike... that comedy of yours will probably keep everybody sane up in The Skeld. Just make sure to have new jokes prepared in the future if you ever make them, alright dear?"

Examining her helmet carefully, Liza nods and proceeds to say, "Don't worry, Principal Rinona! You can count on me to keep the ship up and running... But ships don't have legs, don't they?" She laughs, and Joe practically scoffs and rolls his eyes. Liza ignores it and bows, "Thank you so very much for providing me the opportunity to further progress my knowledge of outer space."

Josie up next as she tried to make her lime colored spacesuit as presentable as possible for her principal. With a helmet in hand, Principal Rinona proceeded to fix some hair that managed to fly around due to the wind, but attached the badge with no hassle at all. "Josie, where do I begin? You came to our school as a girl willing and ready to learn new things every single day, but you were also shy and intimidated by the world around you. I'm more than happy to know Liza managed to break you out of that shell and help you achieve great things. You were a wonderful student."

She gratefully takes her lime colored helmet in her hands and stares down at the diploma with tearful eyes, but Liza almost immediately puts an arm around her shoulders and pulls her in close. Normally, this helped Josie stop crying and calm down, but her emotions got the better of her and she proceeded to sob. "Thank you so very much for the opportunity to further progress my knowledge of outer space."

Principal Rinona pat Josie on the shoulder and picked up a purple helmet, then stared Jamie in the eyes. Her purple spacesuit had a stain from what seemed to be orange juice, and Kana began cheering for their mother in the crowd just as the principal attached the badge and stared straight at the stain. "Jamie, not only do I congratulate you on your graduation ceremony, but I wanted to also congratulate you on yours and Erise's time here at this school. I know you and Erise will be perfect parents for Kana and Winnie, as I can already tell by your parenting. Take care of your little astronauts, alright?"

Just as Jamie took the purple helmet from the principal, Jamie waved towards her adopted children and smiled. "Thank you, Principal Rinona. That means so much to us that you enjoyed our wedding ceremony... and ate a lot of our cake, heh. But nevertheless, thank you so very much for the opportunity to further progress my knowledge of outer space. Winnie and Kana adore this place."

It was Erise's turn next, so Principal Rinona took the cyan colored helmet and attached the badge. As if out of nowhere, Winnie managed to climb onstage, startling Erise half to death and began silently scolding her child as they held onto her legs. "Erise, once again, I'd like to congratulate you and Jamie on adopting such beautiful children and juggling classes and tests all at the same time. It really takes a lot of skill and patience to do what you two have managed to do, but considering the circumstances, I'm sure the two of you are doing your absolute best."

Erise caresses Winnie's hair as she smiles, then all of a sudden, Kana gets jealous and climbs onstage despite their grandparents holding them back. Once they do, they hold onto Jamie and Erise at the same time, then glare at their sibling. Erise blushes, "Sorry about the kids, we'll scold them... Thank you so very much for the opportunity to further progress my knowledge of outer space."

Second to last, Jasper was fiddling with his black spacesuit from boredom, but from the very moment the principal picked up the badge, helmet, and diploma, he straightened his back and stared her in the eyes. As she attached his badge, Principal Rinona begins to speak. "Jasper, you and boyfriend have dreamed of going to space your entire lives, and now you finally get to explore the stars! I'm sure your dearly departed parents are proud of you... Wherever they are, they're smiling down on you as we speak. This is a big day for you and your friends, and I'm so glad you made it this far."

Taking the black helmet in his hands, Jasper begins to smile to himself as he remembers his family and the selfless ways they helped him through life and it's tribulations. "I'm sure they are... and I'll continue making them proud as we travel through space, I assure you. Thank you so very much for the opportunity to further progress my knowledge of outer space."

And finally, Lio, who's white suit was spotless and ironed, who was practically shaking from the excitement of actually graduating a space school with his very best friend and boyfriend, Jasper. The second Principal Rinona picked up his badge, his white helmet, and his diploma, Lio's eyes widened and he shuffled where he stood, but he didn't make a sound. Attaching the badge, she says, "Lio, my boy, you have come a very long way to become an astronaut. Alongside your friends, you are going to do extraordinary things and go on spectacular adventures. Jasper is going to be alongside you throughout all of it."

Lio stared up at Jasper as the principal gave him the helmet and diploma he's always dreamed of, and his eyes begin to water as Jasper flashes him a small smile and proceeds to nod as if confirming Principal Rinona's speech. "Oh, oh wow... Thank you so very much for the opportunity to further progress my knowledge of outer space! I won't let you or the school down, and Jasper will be with me!"

With all of the diplomas, helmets, and badges out of the way, Principal Rinona claps and waves towards the audience. "Come then everyone, turn around and take the commemorative photograph for the yearbooks!" Principal Rinona announced, and her graduating class quickly followed with no hassle at all.

There, in a line facing the ginormous crowd of fellow students, friends, and family members, was the 12 Crewmates of The Skeld on their graduation day. They held one another close by grasping their hands, then bowed just as confetti canons shot golden paper into the sky, and the ginormous flat-screen atop the auditorium listed their names. Unaware of the horrors that were yet to come once they stepped foot onto their spaceship, Joe and Lee proceeded to kiss one another and wave towards everyone in the crowd.

* * *

Black was keeping his distance as the two imposters continued to attack one another, but he started a timer on his watch to know when White was supposed to press the button. It took quite awhile, but he watched the timer continue to count down, while also looking up at White and Captain Joe getting badly hurt from their fight. The timer was so close to resetting, but Black didn't have the patience needed to wait this long, especially since Captain Joe had to get voted out immediately before something bad happened.

5...

Captain Joe managed to cut off one of White's tendrils, earning a shriek from the possessed crewmate, but still continued to block Captain Joe's attacks. Black wanted to avenge White by running in and saving the day, but White specifically told him to be safe with the kids.

4...

The tendril began to twitch and bleed out onto the cafeteria floor, and Black almost threw up his lunch once he saw just how strange the color of its blood was: It was almost like a mix of Red and Orange, but more... neon. There was a strange glow to it as well, but it didn't disintegrate the floor on impact, so it wasn't acidic by any means.

3...

"I won't let you leave The Skeld alive, parasite! You've killed too many people and I won't let you ruin my chances of getting rich!" Captain Joe attempts to grab White's shoulder with one hand and holds a knife in the other, but White's tendrils continue trying to stab through him. Captain Joe only continues to hack and stab at White as they continued to evade their superior, and the tendrils push away the knife despite receiving deeps cuts.

2...

"Get away from me!" White shrieks, finally pushing Captain Joe as far as possible and forcing the knife out of his grasp. "I... I didn't mean to eat people... I... I-" White tries to explain, but the timer on the button finally comes to a stop. Their gloved hands balled into fists in preparation for another fight that was about to break out, but Black's voice broke through the calm.

1.

"White! Press the button while he's down!" Black demands, holding Little Cyan and Little Purple close to his chest. Tears spring to Black's eyes once he realized that he could potentially die at any second and the imposters would win, but he had to stay strong for White and the children.

As Captain Joe struggles to get to his feet, White takes this opportunity to slam the palm of their hand against the big red button, prompting a loud horn to go off and cause the monitor's to flash red.

As Black hesitantly walked into the cafeteria with Little Purple and Little Cyan clinging to his waist, his gaze fell on White's tired and bloody form as they collapsed into his arms, prompting Black to hug them back as tight as he could without hurting his lover. 

"Let's just get this over with, Jasper... Please." White mumbled, the pain of having a tendril cut off practically unbearable to them.

~~~

EMERGENCY MEETING!

~~~

"Captain Joe, it's over!" Black announced, pressing the button on his tablet so the airlock could unlock automatically. "You'll no longer be able to hurt anyone ever again."

"You don't deserve my pity, Captain Joe." White said, making sure to stand next to Black, then pressed his finger against the tablet to vote Captain Joe off The Skeld. "Not after everything you've done."

"What? Y-You... You can't vote me out! I'm your captain, your superior! You have no idea what you're doing-" Captain Joe's sentence was cut off as soon as the voting ended almost as quickly as it started. "Jasper... Lio... It's me! I'm your friend... Hey, Black, if I let you live, you can have half of the money with me when I return White to Headquarters! We can just let... bygones be bygones."

"I'm not stupid enough to fall for that, Joe! Nothing you say or do will make anything better! So just give up and _die_ like the rest of our crewmates!" Holding his family close and ducking beneath the cafeteria table, Black watched the airlock door spring open, forcing Captain Joe to run towards it in some feeble attempt to shut it.

The ship began to speak as the buttons on the keypad of the airlock proceeded to flash a neon green light as if simulating the password, "Warning: The airlock door is now open. Please stand back in case of accidental ejection. Repeat: The airlock door is now open. Please stand back in case of accidental ejection."

Unfortunately for him, this was his undoing.

Captain Joe was ejected almost as quickly as the cooldown timer ended on the Emergency Meeting button by Black and White, who didn't give it a second thought. The children even cheered on their newly adoptive parents for finally getting rid of the man that ruined everything from the very start of their adventure, alongside killing off Commander Lee. No matter how hard he tried, two people voting against one wasn't going to work out in the other's favor.

As soon as Captain Joe began hyperventilating, the oxygen levels on his spacesuit were going down and _fast_. He could hear his own breathing as the ship's thrusters burned his eyes if he stared at it too long, but there was one thing about space that he knew was true, and it was no wonder everyone died so quickly. After White used his spear-like tongue to stab holes into his suit, there was no way for him to protect his skin in such a radioactive place, so all he could do was watch the ship with a dull look in his eyes.

Outer space was exponentially colder than the ship, and the sudden switch between warmth and cold made Captain Joe's body ill-equipped to retain enough body heat to survive in these harsh zero gravity conditions, but he couldn't find it in him to survive for much longer. The Skeld slowly moved past him as he tried to "swim" towards it, but no matter how hard he tried, he could feel his skin between to harden due to the cold.

Suddenly, he bumps into something in his exhausted state, but still has enough energy to turn his head to see what kind of debris or... body that allowed him to stop spinning. His eyes widened and his mouth went agape once he saw who it was.

There, hugging herself close to preserve body heat out in the vacuum of space, was Commander Lee. Her skin had become flaky and blue from the lack of oxygen, almost like she was mummified while she was still alive. Alone, she tried to make peace with her death, despite getting ejected into outer space by Joe.

"Oh... It's you, my love." Captain Joe whispers as his hand twitches until it reaches the visor of her pink helmet. "You're so perfect... So still. Almost like you're resting, aren't you, Lee? Yes," Captain Joe was clearly out of it, but he held Commander Lee close to him, "You're in an eternal sleep. Just like everyone else... It's a pity that you and I did all this work for nothing." She was so stiff in his arms... he found it difficult to hold her.

Continuing to hold Lee, his head tilts to the side and witnesses something he wished he could forget. There, floating out in space, were all of his fellow crewmates and friends that were ejected out of The Skeld from false accusations. 

Cyan was worse for wear, with her body completely frozen in time and unable to move at all despite floating further and further away from the ship. She was going to be in outer space for a very long time. Poor thing.

He then saw Red, who's expression was still wild and frantic from attacking White in the cafeteria during the meeting. His arms were out as well, but it was no use to him now... he was dead and was not going to be saved any time soon.

Orange's body wasn't hard to look at, especially since he framed her for Lime's death... but she was _smiling_ , even in death. No matter how much Captain Joe tried to break her spirits, she was still happy enough to die thinking of a calm and relaxing memory.

And then... there was Commander Lee. The girl he's been in love with since he was a student at the Training Center for Future Astronauts. Joe and Lee were always inseparable despite their love for different fields of space exploration. Joe wanted to be, well, a captain and run his own ship. Lee, on the other hand, wanted to study alien lifeforms on other planets and show compassion for the way they live.

Joe took this all for granted, and only then, as he held the corpse of his girlfriend close, did he finally regret his decisions.

...Captain Joe passed away in Commander Lee's arms not long after that. 

**Captain Joe was An Imposter. (1 Imposter Remains)**

As Black and White shoved Captain Joe out of the spaceship and watched him get sucked further and further into outer space, they closed the airlock doors to preserve what little oxygen they had left. Little Cyan and Little Purple were hugging their new parents in some silent relief that they were finally safe

"Um, Black?" White asked, their index finger and thumb tugging on Black's suit. "There's something important I have tell you."

"What?" Black asks, making sure to stay as close as possible to his lover as they watched Captain Joe's death. "What's going on? You're okay, right? No more feedings for awhile?"

White chuckles a little, then shakes their head as they continue staring out at the stars. "I'm fine. No more feedings, I promise... But... I wanted to thank you for this adventure. I never would have expected something so intense from a bunch of astronauts." 

Little Cyan looks up at White and Black, but Little Purple buries their helmet into White's big pantleg as they continued hugging. 

Black smiles to himself as White bumps their helmet against his own, almost like it was an indirect kiss. After all the hardships, Black managed to protect White and the kids to the best of his ability, all while falling in love with White all over again in the process.

"Um, daddy?" Little Cyan says, beginning to tug on Black's suit, breaking the silence. Little Purple followed suit by holding White's exhausted form as well. "There's something outside, Papa!"

"Oh..." Black begins to smile once he realizes that he's a father to two children, so he stares down at Little Cyan and exclaims, "The escape pod is here! We can all go home!"


	6. 2 Crewmates Remain + Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Black, White, Little Cyan, and Little Purple are saved once the escape pod shows up. They wonder whether or not it's a good idea to return to their home-planet, or travel to a different planet altogether. (Brief epilogue included)

As Black and White held their children close, they watched the escape pod finally come into view and park itself against the airlock of the ship so that no air could escape as they stepped inside. The escape pod was on auto-pilot as it locked itself in place, but with one glance into the miniature ship, anyone could tell that it was empty. It was odd that it didn't have any people in it, but Black knew how to drive it, so what are the odds that they would have this chance again? Either they return to their home-planet, or travel together to a different planet entirely where they'll meet all sorts of new friends in order to leave their home-planet behind.

But this was going to be a big step for the four of them. They couldn't just _leave_ the place where they grew up and spent their entire lives... but there was nothing for them there anymore. Little Cyan and Little Purple lost their mothers, Black left his own family in search of a new one in the Training Center for Future Astronauts, and White was no longer the same as they used to be. Whatever they were going to choose was going to affect their lives in the long run, and neither of them wanted to end up regretting it. The parasite infecting White still needed to eat some form of flesh, be it animal or human. The only problem was finding edible and drinkable nourishment on a new planet.

Black, White, Little Purple, and Little Cyan could all leave The Skeld and never come back without any hassle at all, but even if they were going to go to a different planet than their own, White would be dangerous. Not because they wanted to be, but because it was in their nature. No matter how hard White tried to suppress their hunger and bloodlust, it was always going to be there, reminding them that they were no longer human.

"Alright, well," Black sighed out, inspecting the escape pod's integrity by leaning his helmet against the window, "Everything should be running smoothly, I think. The escape pod already completed its automatic flight path to come here, so now it needs to be flown manually... Which is something I can do."

"Are you positive you don't need my help?" White suddenly asked, but their personality was a lot more human after eating their fellow crewmates. The only problem was putting this newfound intelligence and personification to good use.

Flying a ship _sounded_ like a good idea, but in hindsight...That was a really dumb question to ask. White no longer knew how to fly something as confusing as a spaceship, let alone an escape pod. White cleared their throat just before Black was going to answer, then rephrased the question. "Can you teach me how to fly a ship someday? Once we're... settled?"

"Oh! Yeah, of course I can. You'll be a professional in no time! But what we really have to do now is bring everything from The Skeld into this escape pod so we can figure out where we should go... It isn't safe anywhere."

As the escape pod door opened, revealing the intricate technology hidden within, Little Cyan and Little Purple ran inside and began checking everything out. They were taught not to press _anything_ in a spaceship, especially since it was a delicate piece of machinery, but Little Purple was still curious. As Little Cyan silently walked around and took everything in, such as testing the chair affixed to the hard metal floor, they managed to smile and waved towards their parents, to which Black and White gave them a wave as they loaded up the escape pod with the remaining food and drinks from The Skeld for their journey.

"Hey! Hey, dad! Come check out how comfy this chair is!" Little Purple exclaimed, immediately jumping onto the chair beside Little Cyan and giving it a whirl. As they spun, they chuckled and continued pressing buttons to their heart's content, one of which made the escape pod's windshield wipers go off at the highest speed possible, making the big glass window clean, but the windshield were only usable in case of space debris clouding the vision of the pilot. "Whoa... Cool! What does this other button do?" 

Before Little Purple got the chance to cause even more trouble, Black came to their side as quickly as possible and turned off the windshield wipers. He definitely wasn't used to being a parent, but if he spoke firmly with the children, they'd be more likely to listen. "Little Purple, hey, that's not a toy. In fact, this escape pod is quite literally a ship, okay? I don't want you touching anything that could potentially put us in danger... Got it? We have to manage the coordinates and you could throw us off course if you're not careful."

White's heart skipped a beat as soon as Black spoke to their newly adopted child, almost like they were proud to hear Black scold someone like a father would... even though Cyan was framed and Purple was eaten right in front of the kids. Despite possessing his former lover and wearing White's skin, Black was serious about protecting his new family.

But, it made White realize that all the horrible things they've done was so incredibly tragic that it made their mood drop from pure regret alone. 

Little Cyan and Little Purple would have been raised by their two mothers back on their home-planet once this mission was over. Everyone would have survived and praised for their contributions to space travel, but White and Captain Joe ruined everything. Almost the entire crew, save for Black and the two kids, are _gone_. They're either dead and floating deeper into space or digesting at the bottom of White's stomach. Maybe this was a good sacrifice? It helped White realize that their only family was with Black and the kids, but still... no one deserves this.

They were too busy staring off into space to notice Black right beside them with a reasonably nervous look on his face. Normally, when White ended up standing in place and not blinking, that meant they were hungry. One thing could lead to another if Black wasn't careful.

"White? What's wrong?" Black's voice was practically trembling as he tried to make White listen to him, which ended up breaking them out of whatever spell they were under. "Are you alright? Do you want something to eat? You should probably sit in one of the pilot's chairs in the meantime. You don't need to do any work, I've got it."

White slowly made eye contact with Black, who's mouth was slightly agape and prepared to fight if necessary. Of course he was still afraid... it made White practically break down as they pulled Black in for a hug.

"Oh, Black... What if I get hungry again? I don't want to hurt you or the kids... But I want to return to our home-planet! But then, where would we even go? The second we crash land onto our home-planet we could potentially be arrested and dissected and I-" White covered their mouth as tears began to form which ended up blurring their vision as they stared at the kids buckling their seatbelts. "I want to be with you... And them." White mumbled, and Black began caressing their shoulders while quietly shushing them.

"Then we'll find a new planet! An inhabited one with intelligent life, you know, it's like our home-planet but different! There are tons of them out there! Greslan, Porpora, and Hanz... those are just a few of the planets that we can survive on! One of them is a _vacation spot_ , Lio, the kids would love it. You can eat things whenever you need to. You have more control than you let on, so why is it so hard for you to come with us?"

"Jasper, how many times do I have to tell you this? I'm not a human like you or the kids anymore! I'm an alien that took over White's-" They bite the inside of their cheek and correct themselves in their fury, "Lio's body! What makes you think I can control this primal urge inside of me to eat living things? I could accidentally snap one day and see all of you dead on the floor because I wouldn't have had any control of myself!"

As Black held White tighter and tried to calm them down, White caught Little Cyan's and Little Purple's concerned gaze. They weren't... afraid? Why weren't they afraid? White confessed to having thoughts of eating them just like the crew, and yet, no one bothered to care? Why? After every traumatic experience they've been through, they were worried about White having a panic attack. 

"You're not going to do that, Lio. All you need to do is eat substitute meat... like animals. We'll learn to control this together because you aren't alone anymore... You know that. We care about you too much to let anything bad happen to you." Black says, then continues with a sad smile, "It's because I love you so much, Lio. I can't let you go, even when you're like this. You're the only thing that brings me genuine happiness. Everything about you just screams _Home_. Nothing in this entire galaxy makes me feel the way you do. We'll make a new start on a new planet and leave our old one behind. All of us!"

"No... _No!_ You don't get it, do you? What if you regret your decision one day? We could have bounties on our heads because the escape pod is gone! You missed your chance to be given money by turning in an alien on your home-planet, you idiot!" White tries to wriggle out of Black's grip, but he doesn't dare let them go. 

White no longer has any tear-ducts to be able cry, but they suck in a breath and whimper as they quit struggling. "...What if I become too difficult to handle and you end up getting rid of me? I don't hurt to hurt anybody else... not after what happened on The Skeld."

By now, White was acting just like Lio before being possessed, who was an emotional mess who put other people's feelings before their own. They made brief eye contact with Little Cyan and Little Purple, who were watching from the sidelines.

Black sighs and begins to speak. "I told you already. We'll figure this out when we get settled, and everything will be just fine. We all love you. Money and fame doesn't matter, because I didn't need it like Captain Joe and Commander Lee did. Being with you and the kids is everything I could ever dream of, so please... Stop delaying the inevitable. I'm not going anywhere without you right by my side."

White sniffles and holds Black's gloved hand with a relieved smile on their pale features as soon as they pull apart, but they don't tighten their grip like they usually do. "Okay. Okay, Jasper. Let's go to a planet of your choice and we'll figure it out from there... Are all of the rations aboard the escape pod?"

"Yes, it seems so." Black took one last look into the blood-stained cafeteria and winced once he realized that White was injured and began caressing their suit with his gloved fingers. "How are your... tendrils?" 

At the question, White's stomach-mouth began to open and the tongue wrapped itself around Black's arm as the newly formed tendrils began to feel around to see who touched White. "They grow back on their own. I'm fine."

This time, Black didn't pull away or try to move. Instead, he embraced White's newfound power with a chuckle, then tapped his helmet against White's helmet. "They grew back, huh? That's good to hear... I wouldn't want you actively bleeding out onto the floor."

"Dad's an octopus?!" Little Purple exclaims excitedly, but Little Cyan was definitely more reserved than their counterpart. Instead their eyes widened in surprise once the tendrils returned to White's stomach-mouth, but they weren't afraid by any means. 

Once Black and White finished embracing, they both laughed and proceeded to take their seats at the cockpit. Black sighed as he _finally_ got the chance to unwind and sit down, but as White sat down, they stared down at the buttons with their back as straight as possible. Staying quiet, White watched the home-planet with interested eyes. They didn't want to return anytime soon.

"No, your dad isn't an octopus, so don't ask them to go scuba diving, okay, Little Purple?" Black requests, flipping a few switches here and there to close the door.

"...Does this mean we don't have to go by our Codenames anymore? I'm getting a little tired of being called Little Purple. My mommy gave me the name Kana," At the mention of their mother, Kana's brows furrowed together and their lip began to quiver as they mourned their original parents, "I-I... I want to be called Kana. I hate being called Little Purple."

Little Cyan came to their rescue by unbuckling their seatbelt and hopping out of the chair to give their sibling a hug to calm them down as White watched on from the pilot seat beside Black.

"Oh, Kana..." White said as they got up and hugged the child close. "We don't need to conform to that planet's rules anymore. We can do whatever we want now, my dear."

If it wasn't for Black piloting the ship, he would have joined in on the hugging session, but he needed to control the escape pod so something doesn't go wrong. Unfortunately for them, escape pods didn't have autopilot.

"Me too! I hate the name Little Cyan! I don't even like the color! If we're leaving Headquarters and the Training Center for Future Astronauts for good, doesn't that mean we get to go by our real names now? I get to be called Winnie?"

Black spoke up from the pilot's chair with slight smile. "If that's what you want, Winnie, that's what you'll get. Now, come on, Lio, we have to find a new planet to live on!" 

As White realized that they were _finally_ going to leave The Skeld on the planet for good, their eyes lit up and they helped Little Cyan back into their seat and buckled their seatbelt. "Right, sorry Jasper. Alright, kids, are you ready to go?"

"Yep!" Kana exclaimed, practically squirming in their seat from the excitement. "No more spacesuits!"

"Mhm." Winnie practically mumbled, and Lio caressed their helmet with their hand as they smiled up at their dad.

As Lio made their way back to the pilot's chair beside Jasper, they buckled their seatbelt and grasped his hand with their own. "Ready, Jasper?" Lio asks.

"Ready as I'll ever be, Lio." 

And so, as Jasper made a few more finishing touches on the escape pod, he maneuvered the ship and turned off the GPS coordinates so that no one could find them. With a grin, Jasper, Lio, Kana, and Winnie left the only world they've ever known with space travel, their families, their friends, and everything behind.

Starting a new life together, they don't ever dare to look back.

* * *

~ Log Date: May 21st, 21XX ~

~ Headquarters launched a more experienced team to search for survivors amongst the tragedy of The Skeld, but only the grotesque bodies were recovered. Any "bodies", or what was left of them, were taken straight to the lab to be given an autopsy and dissected for any traces of alien life, regardless of how they died ~

~ No signs of life could be reported on the heat signatures, but the escape pod was no longer in the possession of Headquarters, nor the Training Center for Future Astronauts. Only five out of the twelve crewmates bodies were recovered, with Black, White, and the two kids unaccounted for. The other five crewmates were mutilated quite brutality and left for dead, or seemingly disappeared altogether with no explanation as to what happened. Deep gashes left behind on the corpses seem to be caused by a sharp tooth creature, possibly of extraterrestrial origin. Perhaps it originated on the Polus Outpost? ~

~ The team dispatched to The Skeld managed to take the security camera footage, giving us the opportunity to figure out what happened on The Skeld, but only those permitted to obtain the footage will be able to watch it. Please list the footage as classified and keep it well hidden from prying eyes, but do not destroy the camera, nor the videos. Witnesses of the footage claim to have seen a perfect alien-human hybrid capable of coexisting with one another regardless of difference in DNA make-up. Codename "White" was possessed and Codename "Black" was his accomplice. Were the children in on it too? No signs of struggle on the footage ~

~ Just before the escape pod was dispatched to The Skeld, Lime and Orange sent out a distress signal stating that "two imposters" hiding among them, which were killing them off one by one. Headquarters believes that Black and White are the ones responsible, but there is no justifiable evidence to support their claim. Lime claimed the crew was being "stabbed and/or eaten" by imposters wanting to take over The Skeld, most likely using the ship to attack our planet. If that is the case, White and Black would have returned to Headquarters by now to demand answers about the Polus Outpost and the aliens inhabiting it. No word from them yet, but we are not expecting them any time soon ~

~ The families of the deceased members of The Skeld Exploration Crew will be given a financial compensation regarding their loss, as well as any and all possessions of the certain crewmember. While providing them money and peace of the mind of their deaths will not come easily, rest assured that The Training Center for Future Astronauts aims to please. We are looking forward to seeing to it that you never have to mourn their deaths in public as long as we apologize for our inability to keep your loved one safe. Do keep in mind that we ask their families and friends to keep quiet, otherwise we will be forced to silence them ourselves ~ 

~ The current status of the crew is as follows: 

Status of Captain Joe of The Skeld "Codename: Yellow" - Deceased, Awaiting Autopsy (Signs of Mummification)

Status of Commander Lee of The Skeld" Codename: Pink" - Deceased, Awaiting Autopsy (Signs of Mummification)

Status of Jeremy "Codename: Red" - Deceased, Awaiting Autopsy (Signs of Mummification)

Status of Rio of The Skeld "Codename: Blue" - Deceased, Awaiting Autopsy

Status of Riker of The Skeld "Codename: Brown" - Deceased, Whereabouts Unknown

Status of Ferdinand of The Skeld "Codename: Green" - Deceased, Whereabouts Unknown

Status of Liza of The Skeld "Codename: Orange" - Deceased, Awaiting Autopsy (Signs of Mummification)

Status of Josie of The Skeld "Codename: Lime" - Deceased, Awaiting Autopsy

Status of Jamie of The Skeld "Codename: Purple" - Deceased, Whereabouts Unknown

Status of Erise of The Skeld "Codename: Cyan" - Deceased, Awaiting Autopsy (Signs of Mummification)

Status of Jasper of The Skeld "Codename: Black" - Whereabouts Unknown, Potentially Dangerous

Status of Lio of The Skeld "Codename: White" - Whereabouts Unknown, Potentially Dangerous

Status of Winnie of The Skeld "Codename: Little Cyan" - Whereabouts Unknown, Potentially Kidnapped

Status of Kana of The Skeld "Codename: Little Purple" - Whereabouts Unknown, Potentially Kidnapped

~ The Training Center for Future Astronauts offers our condolences to the friends and family of the crew, and will be taking immediate action to accommodate everyone involved. The Skeld will be taken back onto our home-planet and will be _generously_ cleaned and sterilized for future use; Awaiting new crew for space travel ~

CLASSIFIED INFORMATION: DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES INFORM THE NEW CREW OF THE BARBARIC ATROCITIES THAT OCCURED ON THAT SHIP. BE SURE TO KEEP THOSE INVOLVED SILENT BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. ANYONE UNWILLING TO DO SO WILL BE PROMPTLY TAKEN CARE OF IN A TIMELY AND ORDERLY FASHION AS TO NOT LEAK PRIVATE INFO OF PARASITIC ALIENS INFESTING HUMAN BRAINS ON THE POLUS OUTPOST. DELIVERY OF AN ALIEN-INFESTED ASTRONAUT WILL BE DISSECTED AND THE DELIVERERS WILL BE GIVEN LARGE SUMS OF CASH AS PAYMENT.

WARMEST REGARDS, PRINCIPAL RINONA OF THE TRAINING CENTER FOR FUTURE ASTRONAUTS.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for sticking with Black, White, and their newly adopted kids throughout the story! Unfortunately, this is the last chapter, but just remember that wherever they are, they're happy that you enjoyed their adventure! Until next time!


End file.
